And Then There Were Two
by Mega Ghost
Summary: Nick Williams was an ordinary American kid until it was discovered he could pilot an IS. Chosen to be the Representative Contender for the US, Nick and his brand new, vastly divergent, personal IS are shipped off to Japan. He thought he knew what to expect, but he's in for the danger and shock of his life. Especially when he meets some of the most beautiful girls he's ever seen.
1. Chapter 1

And Then There Were Two...

A/N: The newly inserted character comes in as a first year student during the other main character's second year of school.

**Chapter 1**

Nick still couldn't believe what was happening to him. He knew he wasn't supposed to do it. It had been such a stupid thing to do. He'd been visting his Uncle's factory in California, as part of a vacation to celebrate his sixteenth birthday. His uncle, Tyler Williams, was the CEO and head designer for the largest Infinite Stratos company in the US, and the second in the whole world.

He'd been getting the tour of the factory when he'd wandered off to see the place for himself in his own way. Even though it had been years since Nick had been in the factory, he'd had the exact same tour the last time he'd been there and he'd been bored out of his mind seeing the same things again.

Having successfully sneaked away from the personal tour guide, Nick had made his way to where he thought the restricted area would be and he'd been right. He'd found the area marked "Prototype Testing," located behind an impenetrable security door. Impenetrable, that is, unless you had the access card pickpocketed from your uncle. Nick swiped the card through the security console, and input the access code, remembered from when he'd gotten the tour directly from his Uncle Tyler in his youth. The doors slid apart, and Nick stepped into the room.

A single beam of light switched on, illuminating the form of a dormant IS in the middle of the room. Although it was in its sleep mode configuration, Nick could tell that it was quite far from a typical IS, it was smaller and more compact somehow. That was as far as he could tell without it being activated. He stepped further into the room, approaching the machine. Even though Nick knew there was only one guy in the whole world who could pilot an Infinte Stratos, he felt drawn to the IS in front of him. Even though he knew there was a danger to men who attempted to pilot IS's, he couldn't stop himself. He reached out to touch the machine. His Uncle Tyler then burst into the room behind him.

"Nick, don't!"

But it was too late, Nick's hand was resting against the IS and incredibly, it responded. The exo-suit machine lit up and activated, morphing out to its full size and shape, and that was how it had started.

The news had broken almost instantly and Nick's face and bio had been plastered all over the world. A full scholarship had been offered to Nick by the IS Academy in Japan for the coming school year. It's taken him about a week of thinking to make his decision. He hadn't wanted to leave his friends and his own school in New York, but the chance to be a real IS pilot, with all the thrills, adrenaline, and potential fame and fortune that came with it had been irresistible. Plus, the thought of being one of only two guys among hundreds of girls had its own attraction as well.

His own clothes and personal possessions had all been shipped ahead and his flight had been stress free, but his arrival had not been. For some inexplicable reason, no one from the school had thought that an average American kid from New York who did not speak or read a single word of Japanese could use an escort from the airport to the school itself. He'd taken the wrong train out of the airport and had spent four hours wandering around lost until he'd found a person who spoke English well enough to direct him to the right transport that would get him to the transport that would take him to to the IS academy.

He was, at that moment, lost again, wandering around the school, looking for his class. Even though he did not have his school uniform yet, was severely aggravated and was strikingly late for his first day, he thought he should at least go to whatever classes he had left. He finally saw a girl in a school uniform passing near to him and hurried over to speak to her, lightly touching her shoulder to get her attention.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me how to get to class 1-1?" Nick asked.

The girl responded, "Sumimasen ga, eigo wa hanasemasen. Wakarimasen."

Totally clueless about what the girl had said, Nick's face fell.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. You said you're trying to get to class 1-1?" He heard a different girl ask from behind his back.

Nick was immediately interested and aroused by the sound of her voice. It was a clear, feminine, elegant voice with the most alluring British accent he'd ever heard attached to it. He turned and saw that the beauty of her appearance matched the beauty of her voice. She was short, no more than five-feet one-inch, had bright blue eyes, long, golden blonde hair and magnificently large breasts. Nick thought that she had to be the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life.

With his own proportions of six-foot one and two-hundred-twenty pounds, Nick towered over her, as he had everyone he'd seen and met in Japan so far.

"You must be our new transfer student." She said, approaching him. "The second boy to be able to operate an IS. We've been looking forwards to meeting you."

She stood in front of him, holding her hand out to shake and Nick, forever cool under pressure, did what he thought would be the best thing possible to make a good first impression on this girl. He took her hand, leaned forward and gently kissed the top of it.

"Oh, my!" Cecilia was taken aback. "My, what a gentleman. I don't see manners like that quite so often."

Nick straightened up and looked her in the eye. "Well, when a man meets a lady such as yourself, he should extend her every courtesy."

He had no idea where that action and the formal, utterly fancy sentence had come from, but considering he'd never had much luck with girls back in the states, he absolutely loved himself for saying it and saying it so well.

"Well, you certainly know how to greet a lady. My name's Cecilia Alcott and we're to be classmates." She said.

"I think I'm gonna like this school." Nick thought to himself. He then said outloud, "I'm Nick Williams."

"Pleasure to meet you, Nick. I'm afraid homeroom is over, but I know our teacher and dorm supervisor, Miss Orimura, will want to see you. I think they were expecting you to arrive yesterday evening and have become quite concerned over you." Cecilia said.

"Ah! That must be why there wasn't anyone to meet me at the airport this morning. The airline made a mistake and I got bumped from my original flight." Nick said.

"Yes, that surely must be the reason. If you'll simply follow me, I'll take you to Miss Orimura." Cecilia said.

"Gladly." Nick said back.

He then allowed Cecilia to lead him into the school.

Nick spent most of the remainder of the day being interviewed by the famous Chifuyu Orimora and for reasons he couldn't understand, being poked and prodded by doctors and nurses. He'd been let out just in time for dinner and followed the crowd of girls to the cafeteria.

In his black leather jacket, boots and blue jeans, he stuck out like a sore thumb among all of the white school uniforms. In line for his food, amongst the hundreds of girls surrounding him, Nick had never felt more aroused and more unable to do anything about it. Especially since every single girl's eyes were on him and they were all trying to introduce themselves to him, whether they spoke English or not. He got his dinner of rice, sushi, and croissant and instead of even attempting to use chopsticks, he picked a fork out of the untensil tray.

Nick looked for a table and was about to sit to one alone when he spotted the only face he knew: Cecilia Alcott. She was not just the only friend he had so far, but he exceedingly wanted to possibly make her more than that. He made his way over to her table, and mentally lost a bit of steam as he saw the five people sitting with her. She was on the edge of an almost fully circular booth with four other girls and the only other guy in the school. Nick knew from the news the year before that his name was Ichika Orimura. He'd been hoping to talk to Cecilia alone, but, he knew that he and that Ichika guy were arranged to be roommates and it wouldn't be bad to get into a whole group of friends anyway.

Nick stepped up to the table, instantly getting the attention of everyone.

"Hi, Cecilia. Mind if I join you guys?" He asked.

"Oh, no! Not at all. Please, do sit down, Nick." Cecilia beamed.

Everyone scooted and bunched closer to each other and Nick sat down next to Cecilia.

She introduced him, "Everyone, this is our new classmate and the only man besides my Ichika Dear who can pilot an IS, Nick Williams."

"'Ichika Dear'?" Nick thought in his mind.

He recovered quickly and addressed the group.

"Hi everybody. Like she said, I'm Nick, and since Cecilia didn't speak any Japanese just then I'm assuming all of you can understand me."

"Yeah, we all speak English." Ichika said. "It's nice to meet you, man. I'm Ichika Orimora."

A cute, second blonde girl with purple eyes then said in a French accent, "Bonjour, I am Charlotte Dunois."

A girl with long brown hair split into a two part ponytail, blue eyes, and a bustline that while not absurdly exorbitant, still nearly defied description and measurement then gave her name.

"Glad to meet you, I'm Houki Shinonono."

A Chinese girl with striking green eyes said, "I'm Lingying Huang, but everyone calls me 'Rin'."

The final girl at the table, was a platinum blonde with an eyepatch over one eye and a cold aura surrounding.

She said in a thick German accent, "Jawol. I am Laura Bodewig."

"Nice to meet all of you." Nick said.

"Yeah, and I guess you and I are going to be roommates." Ichika said.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Nick replied.

All five of the girls at the table then seemed to pout. Nick was confused for a split second until he realized it had happened almost instantly after Ichika had mentioned he and Nick being roommates. Were the girls upset about that? They all the continued to eat as they spoke.

"So, Nick, please tell us about your IS." Cecilia said.

"Yes, sil vous plaît, we have all been very curious. There is not much data on your unit available." Charlotte added.

"Well, it's not quite the typical IS." Nick said.

"How's that?" Rin asked.

"Well, for one, while it's technically what you'd call a generation three-point-five. Its design is a lot different from the standard model. On top of that, it's designed for a lot greater speed and maneuverability than others." Nick described.

"What fighting style do you use?" Charlotte asked. "Close-range or long-range?"

"Actually, Speed Demon's specialty is for unarmed combat."

"Unarmed. Interesting. You fight vith no veapons." Stated Laura.

"But, how can you even hope to have a chance in an IS match without any weapons?" Houki asked.

"Well, they had to reduce weight in order to accommodate the increased speed and maneuverability, and one of the ways they did that was by getting rid of the weapons. I've got or two things on board, but for the most part, its just me and my fists and feet." Nick said.

"Than you must really be the perfect pilot for it." Houki said. "I read you're a champion in both Karate and Wing-Chun."

"I've won a few competitions but its not much to bragg about." Nick said.

"That all sounds awesome!" Ichika said. "We ought to have a practice match. See how your machine can handle against my Byakushiki!"

"Sounds like fun. You're on!" Nick exclaimed.

"Great! We'll do it tomorrow after school."

Cecilia then said, "But, Ichika Dear, we have our private training tomorrow after class."

"So do we." Rin said.

"As do we, my bride." Laura said.

"And us." Charlotte chimed in.

"Us too!" Houki said loudly and a bit angrily.

Nick was thoroughly confused by that point.

"Wait, you fi... 'bride?'" Nick asked, his brain still trying to process everything.

He shook his head clear and got back to his main point.

"You mean, all five of you give him special, one-on-one training after classes everyday?"

All of the girls nodded affirmative. Nick looked to Ichika to explain.

"Yeah, I'm actually kind of a weak pilot and everyone's good enough to help me." Ichika said.

"Although, unfortunately, it usually turns out to be more of a group activity than a private session." Cecilia complained.

She, Laura, Houki, Charlotte and Rin than all exchanged a quick look of hostility. Nick then finally understood.

"All five of them like him." He thought to himself. "Seriously? Even Cecilia?"

He looked to his left at Cecilia, seeing the rivalry in her eyes, and he mentally sighed, knowing that getting her attention had just become a far more complicated task. Cecilia then noticed Nick staring at her and met his eyes with hers.

"What is it, Nick? Do I have something on my face?" She asked.

"Oh, no. Not at all. Your face is, uh, just perfect."

Nick then screamed at himself in his mind, "PERFECT!? PERFECT!? YOU COULDN'T COME UP WITH ANYTHING BUT 'PERFECT', YOU IDIOT!?"

"Oh, uh, thank you very much." Cecilia said with a smile, blushing just a little bit.

"So, uh, we were talking about a practice match!" Nick nearly shouted, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, we were." Ichika said. "I really think it'd be great. We'd all get to see Nick's IS and piloting skills and then maybe he could join us for all the training after."

"Vell, I am eager to see zis 'Speed Demon' unit und it does sound like an acceptable compromise." Laura said.

"Yes, it sounds merveilleuse!" Charlotte contributed.

"Of course, we should consider whether or not they're evenly matched. How are your skills, Nick?" Rin asked.

"Well, I did defeat my instructor during the test match." Nick said.

"Quite impressive!" Cecilia squealed.

"In that case, I think you and I should be the ones to go at it." Houki declared. "I'm far better at IS fighting than Ichika and I'd love to test my kendo skills against your martial arts."

"I guess I wouldn't really be able to see your skills as well if I was the one fighting you. We'll have a bout some other time." Ichika said.

"Okay, I guess its all set up then." Nick said. "We'll have the match tomorrow in the arena... uh, I'm sorry, Houki, right?"

Houki nodded. "Yes, that's my name."

"Let me just make sure I've got everyone's name straight." Nick said.

He went around the table, pointing to everyone as he sounded off what he was fairly sure was their name.

"Laura, Rin, Houki, Ichika, Charlotte, and Cecilia I know for sure."

"Right on the money." Ichika said.

"Hey Cecilia, I was thinking maybe you could give me a tour of the school before class tomorrow. Help me get my bearings of the place." Nick suggested.

Cecilia was about to speak, but before she could, Ichika broke in.

"Don't worry about it, man. I'll make sure you know your way around."

"Thanks... Ichika." Nick gritted through his teeth, only half keeping the frustration out of his voice.

"No problem, man. What are friends for?" Ichika asked.

"I'll tell you when I figure out if you're playing at anything." Nick thought.

Out of all the girls, only Laura noticed Nick's displeasure at Ichika's offer.

"Hmm. Potentially interesting." Laura thought to herself.

"Well, since it seems I won't be conducting your tour, perhaps you'd like to join us for lunch tomorrow on the roof?" Cecilia asked Nick.

"Yeah, I'd love to." Nick said.

"Excellent. I'll make some of my delicious English dishes for you and Ichika Dear."

"You're gonna cook?" Rin asked.

"And why not?" Cecilia asked back.

Rin made an audible gulp and a shuttering sigh. "I'll make my sweet and sour pork and bring it along to revive Ichika and Nick's stomachs afterwards."

"Hmm!" Cecilia huffed in protest.

"I'd better bring along a couple of my signature bento boxes too." Houki said.

"And I shall bring some delicious French cuisine as well." Charlotte said.

The rivalry flashed between the girls again. They all then continued to talk and eat until their meal was finished. They all got up from the table and stood for a moment, Nick and all the girls saying their goodbyes.

"It was great to meet all of you. Houki, I look forward to our match tomorrow." Nick said.

"So do I!" Houki enthused. "I can't wait!"

"Charlotte, I've never met a French person before and I have to say, you make a fine impression for your country." Nick said.

"Merci beaucoup!" Charlotte thanked him.

"Rin, we didn't talk much, but I think we're gonna be good friends."

"Yeah, I think so too." Rin replied.

"Laura..." Nick trailed off, trying to think of something to say. "Nice eyepatch."

"Thank you."

Nick then turned to Cecilia.

"Cecilia, it was a real pleasure to see and speak to you again." He said.

He then took her hand and kissed the top again.

"Yes, it was my pleasure as well." Cecilia said as she drew her hand back.

"Very interesting." Laura thought to herself.

The group then all dispersed with Ichika leading Nick back to their room.

An hour later, Ichika emerged from showering in the bathroom and found Nick doing crunches on the floor of the room with his shirt off.

"Jeez dude, you're really ripped!" Ichika blurted out.

Nick stopped halfway through another crunch.

"Uh... thank you?"

"I, I didn't mean anything by that!" Ichika blurted again. "I just meant it's nice to finally have another real guy in here."

"A 'real' guy?" Nick asked, becoming increasingly concerned.

"Uh, this isn't really going well, let me explain." Ichika said.

Ichika then moved over and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the long, dual person work desk. Nick stood up and sat down in the other chair.

"All I meant was it's nice to finally have another guy friend here. See, when Charlotte first got here last year, she kinda posed as a guy at first." Ichika explained.

"Charlotte posed as a guy?" Nick asked.

"Yeah. See, it was her father's idea to try to help his company, the largest IS producer in France. She was supposed to send him information on me, my IS and several others, but I sort of walked in on her in the shower and discovered the truth."

"You saw her in the shower?" Nick asked, trying to make sure he had it all straight. "Because she was living in here with you because she was posing as a guy?"

"Yeah. Of course, that was after Houki moved out." Ichika said.

"Houki lived in here too?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, for quite a while. They couldn't give me my own room after all." Ichika said.

Nick's head was spinning from all of it.

"And, have any of the other girls in your group...?"

"No!" Ichika blurted. "No, they haven't. It's just been me in here since Charlotte moved out after she revealed she was really a girl."

"I guess that's why I had to spend three hours getting checked out by the infirmary doctors." Nick said.

"I guess so." Ichika said. "They probably didn't want a repeat of Charlotte."

A thought then entered Nick's mind. If he was going to pursue Cecilia, he had to know what exactly her situation was in relation to Ichika. He didn't know for sure how to word it, but he had to know.

"Ichika, can I ask you something personal?"

"Sure, Nick."

"Uh, I just really need to know, for my own peace of mind and because I'm kinda confused, what exactly is going on between you and all the other girls?" Nick asked.

"Going on?" Ichika asked back. "Going on how?"

"Can he really be that dense?" Nick asked himself in his mind.

"Are you seeing any of them? In a 'more than friends' fashion." Nick asked out loud.

"What?! No! We're all just friends. I mean, none of them even feels that way about me." Ichika said.

"Really?" Nick pressed the issue. "Not even Houki or... Cecilia?"

"No, not at all." Ichika said. "I mean, 'I' sometimes think about Houki that way and they're all really cute, but with all the times they yell at me and get mad at me and hit me, sometimes I'm not even sure they like me as a friend."

"Wow. He might be a nice guy, but Ichika seriously hasn't got a clue." Nick thought to himself. "But, his stupidity is my gain. As long as he doesn't give Cecilia any encouragement, and if I can keep somehow stumbling my way through this 'gentleman' thing I've got going on with her, it shouldn't be too much trouble to get her attention and get her to go out with me."

"Okay, thanks man." Nick said aloud.

"No problem. We should probably get to sleep now. You're gonna have a big day with Chifuyu and then fighting Houki after school and everyting." Ichika said.

"Sure." Nick said.

Nick then showered, changed into a pair of sweatpants and got into bed, reflecting on his first day in Japan. In one single day, he'd gotten lost twice in a foreign country, met a stunningly beautiful girl and, in fact, many stunningly beautiful girls, learned the one girl out of all of them he liked was interested in someone else and was at that moment sleeping a few feet away from that other guy. He went to sleep thinking it couldn't get any crazier from there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Nick awoke the next morning. It was his second day in Japan at the IS academy with and he had a strange mixture of feeling both excitment and apprehension. He was excited because he was about to start training for a potential lifetime career of IS piloting and apprehensious because he foresaw a myriad of likely awkwardnesses ahead dealing with all the girls of the school.

The very first came as soon as he got out of bed and needed to use the toiletry facilities. There were no toilets inside the individual suite bathrooms, only communal excretion berths at the end of the halls. Nick looked at the clock to assess his options. It was 6:02'AM, exceptionally early. A cramp in his stomach decided things for him and Nick knew he had to risk running into one of the countless girls.

Nick stepped out of the room, leaving a still sleeping Ichika behind. He made his way down the hall and entered the common restroom. It was an exquisitely clean, white tiled room with cutting edge appliances. He then heard the sound of water breaking and splashing. There was a girl in the room. Nick froze, unable to move, petrified with terrified awkwardness. The door to one of the stalls opened, and Cecilia emerged wearing a lacey, white, cleavage revealing nightie. She became just as suspended and motionless as Nick himself was when she saw him. All either of them could do was just to stand there and stare at each other for several long moments. The cringes on their faces depicted how unnerved they were by both knowing what Cecilia had been doing a moment before.

"Nick, um, how... unexpected to see you here." She said.

"Yeah, well, um, you know, uh, stalls." Nick said, unable to compose himself.

"Yes, well, um, I'll see you in class." Cecilia said.

She then scooted past him and walked out of the restroom with as much elegance and class as she could summon. Nick just stood there as she left without saying anything else.

"What's the big deal?" Ichika asked Nick as they got their breakfast.

It had been an hour and a half since the incident in the restroom had occurred. Ichika had given Nick the tour he'd promised, albeit a quick one. Ichika had shown Nick how to get from the dorm to the various arenas, to the training grounds, to the class rooms and back to the cafeteria again for breakfast.

"I mean, I really don't get it. You and Cecilia saw each other in the bathroom, so what?" Ichika asked.

They were just taking their meal trays out of the line and were heading for a table.

"Ichika, imagine you bumped into Houki when you knew she'd just gotten off the toilet." Nick said bluntly.

Ichika imagined it and he stumbled and nearly lost his tray and food.

"Okay, I guess I understand." Ichika said.

They then went over to the booth and saw that all the girls were already waiting in one booth. The guys stared at both Cecilia and Houki for a moment. Cecilia blushed somewhat and looked away from Nick's gaze and Houki did as well from Ichika, but for the reason that she didn't understand why Ichika was looking at her so funnily. The guys then slipped into the booth adjacent to the one the girls were in. Ichika and Nick didn't speak through their breakfast due to the awkwardness, and none of the girls spoke because they were upset Ichika hadn't sat with them.

Thirty minutes later, they were all in classroom 1-1. Nick was standing up in front of the entire class, being introduced by the assistant teacher, Miss Yamada.

"Now class, I'm glad to introduce our brand new transfer student. We had a little trouble getting him here, but he's here now; our new classmate, Mr. Nick Williams."

Nick wasn't paying much attention to her words because he was trying not to pay much attention to her, period. Miss Yamada was a cute woman and clearly a very nice woman, but the dress she was wearing revealed a large amount of the woman's bra, and it was distracting.

Many murmurs and hushed talking erupted from the class.

"I can't believe we've actually got another boy in class now." One girl said.

"Do you think there are more boys like him and Orimora out there?" A girl asked the girl next to her.

"Damn, he's really cute." Another girl mumbled.

"How can he be in this class?" One asked.

"Isn't he a first year?"

"This doesn't make sense."

"Enough!" Chifuyu Orimora shouted.

Everyone quiteted instantly. Chifuyu then stood to address the class.

"Mr. Williams may technically be a first year student, but he _is_ in this class. All results of his entrance exams showed he is far ahead of the average first year student, so it was decided he would be put with all of you. Now, Mr. Williams if you'll be good enough to take your seat next to Miss Alcott." Chifuyu said.

"Next to Cecilia." Nick thought to himself.

Nick moved through the row and sat down behind the desk next to Cecilia. He looked to her, she looked back and the two then looked away from each other.

The class proceeded as normal with Chifuyu and Miss Yamada teaching about the techincal mechanincs of battle and the inner workings of the Infinite Stratos. It was all a bit dry in Nick's opinion. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but from the stories he'd heard, he hadn't thought everything would be so academic.

As class ended, Chifuyu Orimora spoke to the whole class again.

"We'll now be going outside for practical training along with class 1-2."

Ichika stood up and approached Nick's desk.

"Come on Nick, we've got to get to the locker rooms before the girls."

Ichika then grabbed Nick's hand, pulling him to his feet and beginning to drag him away. Nick took Ichika's gripping hand with his other and locked it into a painful karate grip.

"Ichika, I don't like to be touched like that by other men." Nick said a bit menacingly.

"Noted." Ichika said.

Nick then released Ichika and the two proceeded in a hurried, but normal fashion. In the locker room, the two changed into their IS pilot uniforms on opposite sides of the lockers.

"Listen man, I hope I didn't hurt you back there in the classroom." Nick said.

"Nah, Nick, it's okay." Ichika said. "It was my fault anyway. I think I've just had a lack of guy interaction for a bit too long."

"I get that. So, we're good?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." Ichika said.

Nick then stepped around the lockers and the two saw each other in their piloting suits. Nick's was basically the same as Ichika's except that his was a deep hunter green, the shorts were actually full length, form fitting pants and it covered him completely with no break between the torso and pants sections of the suit.

"Huh. Kinda interesting how yours is different from mine. Guess yours was made in America." Ichika said.

"Yep. Right in my Uncle's factory." Nick said.

Outside on the training field, the guys waited until the girls came out changed and the entire class then stood in formed ranks.

"For today's practical training, we'll be watching the inherent differences between the long-range and close-range combat styles." Chifuyu said. "Alcott, Huang, activate your IS'."

Cecilia and Rin both stepped forwards and turned on their machines from the bracelet on Rin's wrist and the earrings on Cecilia's ears. ShenLong and Blue Tears activated in a flash. Nick thought to himself how good Cecilia looked in her Infinite Stratos, like an armored, gun toting princess.

Chifuyu ordered them, "Take to the skies and use the holograms to display the differences in your IS'. We'll begin with the close-range."

Rin and Cecila then both flew up into the air. A lengthy series of holographic targets presented themselves all around the two of them. As she was going first, Rin pulled out a giant, axe like sword from behind her back. The jets of her IS activated more greatly and Rin charged through the targets, swiping and slicing through them. At the end of her run, Rin spun around one-hundred-eighty degrees and used her "Dragon Cannon" to fire energized bolts of atmosphere to eliminate the remainder of the targets.

"As you can see, while the ShenLong is not solely a close combat unit, the close-range style may technically put you in greater danger of retaliation, but, in the opinion of mnay pilots, gives you greater control over the course of the fight." Chifuyu told the students on the ground. "Alcott, you're go!"

Cecilia took out her sniper rifle and began to shoot blue colored laser jolts at the targets, hitting the bullseye with every shot. She then activated her flying laser wings, sending them maneuvering around the holographic targets, shooting their own laser ordinance at the marks, achieving the same accuracy. Cecilia then flew at a marvelously fast velocity, blasting out the targets with all five of her guns in tandem.

Nick thought it was the most beautiful and elegant display of piloting he had ever seen. The thought was further reinforced when he noticed that there was not a hair out of place on her head despite the g-force winds brushing against her. At that moment, he knew that he was finished. He was caught. He didn't know Cecilia well yet, but he knew that amongst all the girls at the school, she was likely to be the only one he wanted to get to know in-depth and wholly and completely and, in time, foster an even deeper connection with her. He yearned to mentally captivate her into a position where Cecilia would be open to a relationship. Though, he admitted, it was a task he felt was going to be arduous and trying. But, something inside of him gave him the brawn he might have otherwise lacked in his previous life in the US. To him, she would be worth the effort, despite the uncertainty of the outcome.

Then, at that moment, something happened: An unseen laser shot from nowhere tore through the sky and decimated Cecilia's propulsion wings. She tumbled downward as fast as gravity could pull her out of the sky. She was nearing impact at terminal velocity before anyone really knew what was happening. For the shot to have torn through Blue Tears' flight system, it meant it had annihilated her shield energy, meaning Cecilia was in real and true danger. Rin was flying down to try to catch her and everyone else was watching with bated breath.

Before Ichika could activate his Byakushiki, Nick ran forward, jumping into action.

"Speed Demon!" Nick shouted in his mind, sparking off his IS.

No one on the ground caught anything but the feintest glimpse of Nick's IS because he seemed to have dissappeared completely. All anyone could see was a rapidly dashing blur racing in Cecilia's direction. Cecilia and Blue Tears were about to hit the ground, Rin almost in arm's length of her when the blur jumped up and caught Cecilia out of the sky. She and the blur landed relatively softly, creating a far smaller crater than would have occurred otherwise.

The rest of the class ran forwards and came upon the landing site. What they all saw was Nick and Cecilia at the bottom of the crater, Cecilia in Nick's arms as he held her protectively. Both of their IS' were deactivated and gone.

"Everybody alright down there?" Ichika called.

"Yes! I'm quite fine." Cecilia shouted back. "The shot tore through all of my shield energy."

She then looked up into Nick's eyes. He was panting hard, not just from exertion, but from the now wavering adrenaline spike. His eyes were full of both worry and relief.

"Nick, you just saved my life." She said.

"Well, it seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do." Nick said, trying to play it nonchalant. "Can you walk?"

"Yes, I believe so." Cecilia said.

She climbed out of Nick's arms and stood up.

"I don't think I'm harmed in the slightest, thanks to you."

Nick stood as well. The two then climbed up out of the small hole and stood with their classmates.

Chifuyu said, "Alcott, you'd better get your IS to the maintenance department then have yourself checked out in the infirmary, just to be safe."

"Yes, Miss Orimura." Cecilia said. "I'll see you at lunch, Nick."

She then walked away.

"Okay everyone, could we get back to our training now, please?" Miss Yamada asked.

Everyone started to fall back into ranks, except for Nick.

"Wait, you're all just going to go back to class as if nothing happened?!" He asked with incredulity. "Someone just took a shot at Cecilia!"

"Well, Cecilia's fine and nothing else has happened." Ichika said.

"I don't believe this!" Nick shouted.

"Get back into line, Williams!" Chifuyu yelled at him.

"What's the matter with you people?! Aren't you going to do anything?!" Nick asked.

"And what exactly would you have us do?" Chifuyu asked.

"Get everyone inside, use the school satellites to scan the area, have the instructors suit up and make aerial reconnaissance. Call the cops at the very least!" Nick yelled.

Chifuyu then stepped closely to Nick and looked sternly up into his eyes.

"Since you're new and from America, I'm going to let this go this one time. Just know that even though we're not running around in a mad panic over this, it will be investigated thoroughly. We will put every resource of the school into finding out where that shot came from and making sure that it doesn't happen again. If that's not good enough for you, then that's just your problem."

Nick returned her harsh gaze. He wasn't exactly sure whether she was calculating the situation, was so cold-blooded that she was unfazed by it all, or simply didn't care. Whatever the answer was, Nick realized soon enough that nothing was going to be done about it at that moment, so he retook his former position amongst the others and the class resumed.

An hour later, the whole group of Ichika, Laura, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, Nick and Houki were all up on the grass lawn on the roof, sitting in a large circle.

"Okay, I'd say we definitely earned our lunch today." Ichika said.

"I'd say that's an understatement." Nick said.

"Right, I'm going to present the lunch I brought for everone to share first." Cecilia said. "I've made a delicious spread of sandwhiches AND some traditional English Fish'N'Chips. I think the first bite should go to Nick, the hero of the hour."

She then held out a picnic basket and opened it to reveal the food.

"It looks great Cecilia, thank you!" Nick said.

He started to reach out to take a sandwhich, but before he took one, the five members of the group besides he and Cecilia got up, grabbed him and dragged him out of earshot within a flash.

"What are you guys doing?" Nick asked loudly, shocked by the outburst.

"We're trying to save your life!" Rin whisper yelled at him.

"You don't know what you're getting in for!" Ichika warned Nick.

"Oui, her cooking is incroyablement terrible!" Charlotte added.

"It's like swallowing nuclear waste." Houki chimed in.

"Ja! You should listen to them." Laura said.

Nick then stood up and looked harshly at them.

"If you all don't mind, I think I'd like to find out for myself."

He walked back over and sat down in front of Cecilia again.

"Thank you, Cecilia. These look wonderful." He said.

"Thank you. I hope you like them." She replied.

Nick took one of the sandwiches and a handful of breaded fish tenders and french fries out of the basket. He lifted the sandwich to his mouth and took a heaping bite out of it. Everyone else was watching him, waiting, anticipating. After several moments, Nick's mouth stopped chewing and he swallowed the first bite.

"Wow! That's the best sandwich I've ever had in my life!" Nick shouted.

"Really?" Cecilia asked.

"Really?! The five others yelled.

"Yeah, I've never had anything this good before." Nick enthused.

"Oh, Nick, you're so kind! Please, take as much as you like." Cecilia said.

Nick then began to dig into the food while still being modest and mannerly.

"That's the best he's ever had?" Houki thought in her mind.

"What's he been living on 'til now? Fried tire rubber?" Rin thought.

"This is potentially a very interesting situation vith many possibilities." Laura thought.

"I guess it really does take all kinds." Ichika thought.

"Perhaps he is just trying to be kind." Charlotte thought. "Oui, that must be it."

The rest of them then reformed the circle and began to eat their lunch.

"Mmm!" Nick groaned happily as he bit into the fish. "I haven't had food this good in years."

"You're quite flattering, but surely your Mum must have made food better than this." Cecilia said.

"She couldn't not have." Rin said sarcastically.

"Yeah, she used to." Nick said, his tone full of melancholy.

Cecilia then asked, "Used to? Does she not cook anymore?"

"Not for a long time." Nick said.

He then saw that everyone was becoming deeply curious about his words.

"So, what do you guys do for fun around here when you're not training or studying?" Nick asked to change the subject.

"Vhen ve are not training or studying?" Laura repeated the question.

"Huh, come to think of it, that's kind of a good question." Ichika said.

"I guess it's easy to ask that on just your second day." Houki said. "Here at the academy, fun is mostly whatever down time you get. You'll figure that out soon enough."

"Oui, either relaxing or participating in practice matches or school tournaments." Charlotte said.

Rin then said, "Speaking of IS', Nick, how'd you do that whole speed thing when you saved Cecilia?"

"Yes, I'm curious about that myself." Cecilia said.

"Well, I activated Speed Demon, obviously." Nick said.

"But, we didn't even see it." Ichika said.

"I told you guys it was designed to be faster than any other IS."

"Tres incroyable!" Charlotte exclaimed. "You were practically invisible. Now I truly cannot wait to see your match with Houki."

"No kidding!" Houki enthused. "Our fight is going to be awesome!"

"How exactly does your IS achieve zhis speed?" Laura asked.

"I could give you the overview, but the rest is trade secrets and kinda over my head anyway." Nick said, partially laughing.

"Well, will you tell us?" Rin asked.

"Think I'll save it for during the match itself. My Dad's a writer and I know the importance of saving a surprise until the right moment." Nick said.

"Oh, Nick, you're an awful tease!" Cecilia said with a smile.

Nick smiled back to her and they all continued to talk pleasantly as they ate their lunch.

The rest of the day proceeded largely the same as the first half with classes on mechanics and theory concerning the IS. Although bored nearly out of his mind, Nick still payed attention, absorbing all of the information. He might not have been the most studious student on the campus, but he had no intention of failing out. He had technically skipped the first year after all, so he had an image to protect.

Shortly after classes had ended, the whole group had met up again at arena no. one for the match. Houki Shinonono vs. Nick Williams. Akatsubaki vs. Speed Demon. Houki and Nick stood on opposite ends of the arena in their piloting suits while the rest of the group were in the stands.

"Fair warning, Nick: just because this is your first real match doesn't mean I'll go easy on you!" Houki shouted.

"Funny. I was gonna say the same thing to you." Nick hollered back.

The two smiled at each other.

"Akatsubaki!" Houki shouted out loud, for a change.

The bells on the belted wristband on her arm glowed brightly and the Akatsubaki activated. Houki stood nearly seven feet tall as the red colored machine enveloped her in its defensive technological superiorty.

"Speed Demon!" Nick yelled.

The belt around Nick's waist ignited with light and the Speed Demon turned on as well. Houki, Charlotte, Laura, Cecilia, Rin and Ichcika then all got their very first look at Nick's Infinte Stratos. He had not been exaggerating when he'd said it was extremely disparate from the standard IS model and, in fact, it looked _nothing_ like a typical IS. There was thick metal covering his entire form, more like a combat armor than an IS. Nick had a protective helmet on his head with a glass visor shielding his eyes. The whole suit was the same shade of hunter green as Nick's piloting suit with black accents on his hands, feet, knees and the sides of the helmet.

"So, that's his IS." Ichika commented in the stands.

"_Is_ that even an IS?" Charlotte asked.

"It doesn't look anything like one." Rin said.

"A very intriguing design." Laura thought out loud. "Zhis should be interesting."

"Go on Nick, show her what you can do!" Cecilia cheered him on.

Down in the arena, Houki said, "I have to say, I wasn't expecting that. Now, I'm even more excited to see what you can do."

"Please, ladies first." Nick said.

Houki smiled, drew her two swords and charged forwards at top flight speed. Nick stood motionless, seemingly unworried as Houki approached. She closed the distance and was about to strike when it happened. Nick vanished and Houki crashed into the arena wall. Everyone was shocked and surprised, jumping to their feet as they waited for the dust to settle so they could tell what had happened. The cloud of debris cleared and they saw Houki climbing out of a hole made in the wall. Nick was on the other side of the arena, where Houki had been standing previously.

"What just happened?" Ichika asked no one in particular.

"Confused?" Nick asked Houki. "See, aside from the design, what makes Speed Demon so much different is the propulsion system. Instead of installing a traditional flight system, the guys at my Uncle's factory invented a new kind of even more powerful micro-jet. The micro-jets are spaced over every surface of the suit, allowing me to move, dodge and maneuver at even greater speeds than your Akatsubaki."

"Huh. Very interesting. It'll be fun beating you." Houki said.

Houki then charged again. Again, Nick waited until she was just in front of him and then jumped. He leaped up into the air at least fifty feet. Houki stopped herself before a second crash and waited until Nick had landed to turn to him again.

"And, to help make up for the lack of flying, they gave the suit neumatic amplifiers and neuro-muscular enhancers to give me phenomenal jumping ability and near super-human strength, to help mitigate the lack of weapons." Nick explained.

He then took off running, nearly invisible, moving at unbelieveable speeds. He ran up behind Houki and punched her in the back. Her shield took the impact, but she went hurtling across the arena until she collided into the wall again. She clambored out and checked her shield energy. It had been reduced from eight-hundred to five-hundred from Nick's punch and her two crashes.

"Wow! I'm really impressed. You pack quite a punch." Houki said.

Houki then charged him for a third time. Nick thought that she just wasn't learning, but, when he began to super-speed away, Houki swung her Karaware katana and a crescent laser wave came out of the blade and struck him in the chest. Nick crashed into the ground from the hit and dug in, the earth clumping up behind him as he ground to a halt. Several moments after he stopped, he clambored to his feet, looked at Houki and smiled.

"Letting me think you were just trying the same thing again. Nice decption." Nick praised her.

"Thanks. I thought that would work." Houki replied.

"Won't work again." Nick said back.

He ran towards her again and Houki shot rapid lasers at the blur that was Nick with her Amatsuki sword. Nick dodged the blasts and closed the gap between them and performed a jumping, flying side-kick into her, making her fly up into the air. Houki used her flight system and stabilized herself before clashing into the stands.

"Since you've admitted you can't fly with your Speed Demon, I think I'll stick to using an aerial advantage." Houki said.

She then fired the laser bolts from both of her swords down at Nick. Nick spent several minutes speeding around the arena, dodging her blasts to try to save his shield energy. Just as he was making a short jump to dodge a crescent laser, he was struck in the back by another bolt and was sent into the ground. Houki then pressed on and pummeled him with repeated lasers. She cut off her assault a minute later and looked down to see. Nick slowly straightened to his full height and looked up at her.

He said, "Well, I wasn't planning on showing this for a while yet, but I'm having too much fun to end this fight now, so check this out."

Nick then jumped up into the air and, instead of falling, a platform spontaeneously appeared beneath his feet in mid-air and he jumped off it as well, repeating the process over and over until he reached Houki's altitude.

"How... how? You said you didn't have a flight system." Houki said.

"I technically don't, but, as you pointed out, not being able to go skyward is a great disadvantage, so they put forcefield generators in the hands and feet so I could create platforms for which to traverse the air."

"Hmm. Works for me." Houki said. "Wouldn't have been much fun to win that easily anyway."

Nick and Houki then struck, rushing each other at their top speeds. The two assaulted each other with rapid hits and evasions, each combatant clouting each other and dogding the other's blows at an even ratio. To the others in the stands, the streaking lights of the IS' in the sky looked amazingly similar to a World War II dogfight. They could easily tell which was Houki and which was Nick, not only because of the colors from their respective machines, but because of the patterns created by the colors. The pattern from Houki's was perfectly symmetrical and flowing from her normal flying while Nick, with his rabbiting swiftly from forcefield platform to forcefield platform created a jagged looking zig-zag pattern through the sky. Every time the two patterns intersected there was a huge crack of sound to coincide with their clashes.

Houki slashed across Nick's shield with a fast pass and her fold-out armor. Nick struck Houki with an uppercut then leapfrogged off a platform created above Houki and fell swiftly down towards her again and hit her with a spinning axe-kick. Houki then extended the laser blade from her foot and swiped at Nick with it, hitting him diagonally down the chest.

After that, Nick fell down through the air, but out of control and with no purpose on his part. He seemed to be either knocked out or severely dazed. Despite the IS' protection protocols, Houki's worry for her new friend compelled her to fly down to try to catch him. Once she was in range to grab onto him, Nick's eyes suddenly opened, a glow of laser energy emanated on the front of his right leg and he activated the micro-jets in the suit leg to put a massive strike into Houki's shield, sending her tumbling away as he made another platform to stop himself.

"Sacre bleu!" Charlotte gasped.

"Did you see how sneaky that was?!" Rin asked.

"What a brilliant tactic!" Cecilia declared.

"Just like an American for you." Commented Laura.

"But you have to admit, that was cool!" Ichika said.

Houki then recovered and looked at Nick with a wry smile.

"Payback for _my_ sneak play?" She asked.

"Only seemed fair." Nick responded.

"I have to admit, you're a much better pilot than I figured. Your IS is amazing." Houki said.

"Same to you, Houki. This is the most fun I've had in years."

"Me too, which is why I'm sorry to say you don't have much of a chance here."

Houki's Akatsubaki then began to glow a golden aura.

"That was my Kenran But?." She said. "Means I just recovered all of my lost shield energy, so its just like the fight's just started for me."

"That is an impressive ability." Nick said. "And if it weren't for Speed Demon's very own one-off attack, then I'd definitely be in danger of losing this fight."

"So, it's a duel of our greatest abilities now." Houki said.

"Good luck, Houki." Nick said.

"You too." Houki said.

She blasted towards him at her full speed with her katanas. Nick dodged, jumping up over her and leapfrogging from platform to platform as she chased him all throughout the air. Nick then stopped leaping and ran forward at his top speed. Houki began to close on him. One more decent blow with her swords would empty his remaining shield energy and win her the match. Just as she'd gotten into striking distance Nick suddenly jumped upwards with an even more powerful and faster burst of speed, made a platform, bounced off of it upside down, got positioned behind Houki, careened off another two platforms and dashed at her with his greatest speed yet, a super-sonic boom accompanying him. Nick punched Houki with all his enhanced strength at a speed of of mach one-point-four. Houki toppled out of the sky and collided with the ground hard. Her shield energy had been reduced to zero with his one punch. Nick had won. The match was over.

Nick unhurriedly and gently slid to the ground until he'd landed near Houki's crater. He stepped down into it and moved close to her just as Houki deactivated her IS and Akatsubaki retracted into the bells. Nick made Speed Demon retract as well. He then graciously held out his hand to help her up.

"Great match." He said, smiling.

Houki returned the smile and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet.

"You too." Houki said. "I really didn't see that last punch coming."

"Guys!" They heard Ichika shout.

He and the rest of the girls were standing at the mouth of the crater.

"That was so awesome!" Ichika said.

Nick and Houki then climbed out of the hole. Houki took notice of the fact that he didn't let go of her hand until they were up on the ground level and wondered if it meant something that she didn't take her hand away herself, despite the fact that Ichika was the one man she liked and wanted. At least, that's what she thought.

"Guys, that was one of the coolest matches I've ever seen." Ichika said.

"Yes, it was incredibly impressive, Nick!" Cecilia beamed.

"Ah, it was nothing." Nick tried to be modest.

"Nothing?! Your performance was amazing!" Charlotte said.

"Yes, you vere surprisingly imposing out there." Laura said.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Personally, I had a blast." Houki said.

"Vhat vas zhat attack you used to finish the match?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like that!" Ichika said.

"Oh, that was my super-sonic punch." Nick said. "Pretty cool, huh? It's a one off attack because it dumps almost all of my shield energy into the micro-jets to increase my speed even futher and hit my opponent while moving faster than sound. It's also a tricky attack to pull off because I need an unobscured and direct line of sight to my opponent. At those speeds, if I move even the slightest to the left or right then I'll miss my opponent completely."

"Well, you pulled it off beautifully." Cecilia said.

"Nick, you and me are- going next! Right now!" Rin proposed with a smile.

"How 'bout tomorrow, Rin?" Nick asked. "As you can probably imagine, Speed Demon might have some advantages over standard IS', but it does take a lot more physical effort to pilot it. I'm not wiped, but I'm nearly there."

"Alright, tomorrow's fine." Rin said.

"And I vill go after Rin." Laura stated matter-of-factly.

"And then me!" Charlotte said.

"Everyone, please!" Cecilia butted in. "I'm sure we all want to have a match against Nick now, but if we make him fight us day after day then the poor boy won't have the strength to lift his head, much less compete in any school tournaments or events when they come around."

"Thank you, Cecilia. That was very well said." Nick said.

"You're very welcome." She then turned to Ichika. "Now, Ichika Dear, it's time for your training."

Cecilia moved over and draped herself all over Ichika's arm.

"Come along, we've lots of work to do." She squealed happily.

She then began to almost drag him away by force.

"Hey, get back here!" Rin shouted angirly.

She and all the other girls scowled and began to follow them. Nick sighed to himself. He considered all six of them to be his friends, but they were a bit exasperating and there was no doubt that it'd be a while until he wasn't the new guy in the group, especially considering that all of them were still crazy over Ichika. Although, by Cecilia standing up for him to keep the others in check, he thought he might already be making progress with her, and it made him smile. Nick then hurried off to watch and see what exactly the girls would do to Ichika; he didn't want to miss that. He had a sneaking suspicion that it would be entertainment unlike any other.

In a highrise in the city, a woman with black hair and her face hidden by a hood over her head stepped into the main room. She crossed the room and stood in front of a comfortable looking couch. On the couch was a beautiful, tall, blonde woman wearing an evening dress and sipping a glass of wine. She had an air of authority about her, yet seemed to be unconcerned with everything besides her wine and her view.

"Did you do it?" She asked the black-haired woman. Her tone was measured and saturated with control.

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's confirmed. The American boy is at the IS academy." The black-haired woman reported.

"Does he have it?" The blonde woman asked.

"Yes. He has the Speed Demon, but he doesn't seem to have unlocked it's true potential yet."

"Perfect." The blonde woman said with an almost laughing tone.

She then waved the black-haired woman away and continued to sip her wine.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and follow. More will be coming.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Nick awakened in his room, rising with the first light of day as he always did. The first sound that greeted him was the same one that always did: Ichika's low, snoring like breathing. Ichika never woke up before the alarm clock sounded, meaning Nick didn't have to be excessively silent as he changed into his martial arts gi and headed out of their shared dorm room.

He made his way through the halls to the exterior of the school, thinking as he went. He'd been in the IS Academy for about a month and a half, and so far, he was enjoying it. The school work was challenging, piloting his IS was the greatest blast, and Ichika, Cecilia, Rin, Laura, Houki and Charlotte had become his very good friends. In fact, even though he'd had plenty of friends back in New York, he thought his new group were quickly becoming the best friends he'd ever had.

On the other side of the coin, one aspect of life at the academy wasn't going so well for Nick. His campaign to get closer to Cecilia was a slow going one. He tried often to get to spend time alone with her, but things kept getting in his way. When he'd tried to ask her to dinner in the cafeteria alone, Ichika had ended up tagging along. When Nick had asked Cecilia if she wanted to have a private practice match, the word had spread and the entirety of class 1-1 had shown up to watch. When he'd asked if she wanted to watch a movie in his room, Ichika had overheard and then the rest of the girls invited themselves to not let Cecilia be almost alone with Ichika.

Despite it all, on the whole, Nick loved the school and the little he'd seen of Japan thus far.

He rounded a corner and arrived at his intended destination. It was the large park area near the on campus pond. He passed by a tree and saw Houki there waiting for him. She was wearing her kendo gear. Ever since their practice match against each other on Nick's second day, he and Houki had started to become very close friends. They'd turned out to have more in common than they initially thought between their martials arts practice and enthusiasm for piloting. Ever since that first match, Nick and Houki had been meeting three times a week in the mornings to spar against each other. Each session was the same as their match, her sword versus his fists and feet.

Houki then happened to turn around, saw Nick, and smiled at him. Nick had noticed how about half of the time, Houki didn't smile much when they were in class or all eating together, although, she usually seemed to smile at him when they were training alone together. Nick was glad she did. She had a beautiful smile that made everything around her light up.

"Hi, Houki." Nick said happily.

"Hey, Nick!" Houki beamed at him.

Nick stepped closer to her.

"You know, this really isn't fair." Houki said. "My sword against you with nothing at all."

Nick laughed a bit. "You say that every time we do this and it's the same every time. You know I have to get better at fighting weapons without any and, if we ever have to work together in a fight, you have to better understand my unarmed skills."

"I know, still doesn't seem right though." Houki said.

"I keep telling you, you should bring that real katana I've seen you practice with." Nick told her.

"No way." Houki said. "Too dangerous to do this with a real blade."

"It's not like I'm gonna be going up against wooden swords in a match or a real fight." Nick said.

"Still, even by accident, I really wouldn't want to hurt you." Houki said.

She then blushed a little.

"You or anyone else in our group! You, Charlotte, Rin, anyone!" She added excitedly and then laughed nervously.

"Why am I talking like this?!" Houki asked herself in her thoughts. "What's going on with me?"

"Okay, so, you wanna get started?" Nick asked her.

Houki then came out of her thoughts and remembered what they were there to do. She smiled at him again and nodded her head.

"Yeah, let's do it." She said.

Nick and Houki then turned and took a step away from each other. The turned back and bowed to each other. Houki lifted her wooden training sword. Nick sank into his fighting stance, lifting his open hands to the ready.

Houki stepped in first, swinging her sword sideways to try to hit Nick's shoulder. Nick ducked under the training weapon and sent a vertical punch up into Houki's stomach. He stopped his fist just short of hitting her and they both froze. Houki pulled her sword back and Nick straightened up to his full height.

"You're making your arc too wide." Nick told her.

"Excuse me?" Houki asked in a defensive tone.

"Your arc with the swing is too wide." Nick said. "You're losing speed and power. You should try a smaller arc thrown from your shoulder."

"I've been practicing Kendo for nine years, I think I know what I'm doing." She spat angrily.

"Just trying to help. Martial arts, kendo included in that, is all about constant self improvement, you know."

The two then moved away from each other and settled back into their starting positions. Houki had a reflective look on her face as they resumed. She swung her sword towards him, using a far smaller and quicker curve of travel and whacked Nick hard on his upper bicep. Houki couldn't help but smile as the contact was made. They pulled back from each other and Nick rubbed the spot on his arm. Houki frowned.

"Did I hurt you?" She asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just a little sting." Nick said. He then smiled. "I told you about that arc."

"Yeah, I guess you were right." Houki said sheepishly.

"Wanna keep going?"

Houki nodded an affirmative. They took their positions again and proceeded. Nick blocked her swing at her wrist and put his other elbow two inches from her temple. Houki smacked a traveling fist away and stuck her sword hilt just short of his throat. Nick grabbed onto the wooden blade of her sword, stopping it and brought his foot up in a crescent-kick, just short of kicking her across the face.

"Hey! You grabbed my sword! That's not fair." Houki said.

"Fighting in the real world's not fair." Nick said.

His tone and his face then became unusally somber.

"It's dirty, terrible... and permanent."

Houki's expression changed to become confused and slightly concerned. Before she had the chance to say anything, Nick's face turned back to smiling and happy.

"Besides, you know, if we were in our IS', I still could have done the same thing since our hands are protected. There isn't any rule against it for official competitions anyway." Nick said.

"Right, yeah, okay." Houki said.

She was still partially bewildered and curious to what the reason behind that look on Nick's face had been, but she decided not to try and pry into it. As good friends as they had become, Houki didn't think they were close enough for it to be anywhere near appropiate for her to inquire into what was obviously a sensitive subject for him.

Without a word, the two got back into their stances. Nick took a step forward to launch a controlled strike, but his mind was still fixed upon the incident he didn't want to talk about and as a result, he moved his feet incorrectly, slipping on the wet grass and falling right on top of Houki. They fell to the ground in a great heap. Nick was right on top of her. Their faces were only a few centimeters apart. Nick could feel Houki's sizable breasts pressed against his chest. Both his and Houki's cheeks were as red with blushing as they could possibly be. For many long moments, they just laid there, looking into each other's eyes. Nick then finally came to his senses, got his hands against the ground and pushed himself up. On his feet, he held out his hand and pulled Houki up as well. Houki swiftly took her hand back and stood several steps away from Nick.

"The, uh, grass is really slippery." Nick said, offering an excusing explanation.

"Yeah, it is. Very wet." Houki said.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Both of them were too embarrased to look at each other.

"No, I'm, uh, I'm fine." Houki said. "You?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Nick replied.

"You have a very muscular chest." Houki said without thinking.

She blushed an even deeper red as she realized her own words.

"Thank you." Replied Nick, also turning deeper red.

"So, uh, I think that's enough sparring for today." Houki said.

"Yeah, I'd definitely say I've had enough." Nick said. "I'm, uh, sorry about that."

"That's okay." Houki said.

The two of them then walked away to go back inside without saying goodbye or even looking at each other.

Not much later at breakfast, the whole group were seated in one of the circular booths in the cafeteria. Nick was torn between being pleasantly snug and drastically uncomfortable as, with all seven of them in the booth, they were crammed tightly with almost not enough room to comfortably eat and on top of that, Nick was between Cecilia and Houki. It had happened because he and them had been the last to show up at the table and it couldn't have been helped. On his one side, he was excited to have his hips touching Cecilia's and uneased from touching Houki's on his other.

Nick extended his hand to the center of the table for the salt and he and Houki happened to reach for it at the same time. Their hands touched as they picked up the salt together. They both dropped the salt and quickly retracted their hands. They were both flushing anew.

"Sorry!" They both half-shouted as they looked at each other.

Across the table, Laura squinted her unobstructed eye as she looked at them, inspecting them.

"Vhat is wrong vith the two of you?" Laura asked.

"Oui, your are acting very peculiar." Added Charlotte.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong!" Houki lied through a forced smile.

"Yeah. Why would anything be wrong? Houki and I are great. Never touched anything." Nick sputtered.

"You sure are acting like there's something wrong." Rin said.

Rin's words made Houki shift uncomfortably in her seat and inadvertently pushed her hip more into Nick's.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She said loudly and panicked.

Nick then accidentally grazed her breast with his elbow.

"God, I'm sorry!" He yelled.

He jerked away and nearly hit Cecilia. By that time, everyone was staring right at the two of them. Houki and Nick looked back at them for a moment and then silently resumed eating their breakfast, doing their best not to touch each other.

"Could zis possibly be a new development?" Laura asked herself in her mind.

After several minutes of awkward, hushed chewing, Nick felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He took the phone out and saw that it was his Uncle Tyler calling. It was 7:25AM Nick's time, which meant it was 2:25 in the afternoon of the previous day for his uncle in Los Angeles. Nick pressed the "accept call" button on the screen and put the phone to his ear, grateful to have something to distract him from his mounting discomforts.

"Uncle Tyler?" Nick asked in a quiet, respectful tone. "Yeah, of course I can hear you fine. How are you?"

Nick listened to the response coming to him from across the ocean.

"Ah, that's good. Me? I'm pretty good. The school's more challenging than I thought it was gonna be, especially since I have to learn some of the first year curriculum in addition to second year, but it's actually pretty fun." Nick than quietly laughed. "Girls? Yeah, there are a _lot_ of girls here. No! There's nothing like _that_ going on here. One specfic girl? Well..."

Nick trailed off as he suddenly realized the noise in the cafeteria had dropped sharply. Looking around, he saw that Cecilia, Ichika, Laura, Hoki, Rin and Charlotte were giving him looks of awkward concern, but the rest of the cafeteria were all quietly staring at him with a combined glare of derision.

"Uh, Uncle Tyler, I'm gonna have to call you back." Nick said.

He ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Okay, what did I do?" Nick asked his friends.

"Well Nick, it isn't really your fault." Cecilia said.

"Yeah, thinking about it, I guess it's kind of obvious you wouldn't know this." Rin said.

"Although, maybe the rest of us should have filled you in on some of this stuff." Cecilia said.

"What stuff?" Nick asked, becoming impatient but not daring to raise his voice.

"Common courtesies." Houki said in an un-condecending way.

Ichika then said, "See, it's just, in Japan, it's considered very rude to everyone present to talk on a cell phone in any kind of restaurant or public eating forum."

"Oh." Nick finally understood. "Yeah, I did not know that. I wouldn't of answered it otherwise."

"Yes, ve know zhat." Laura said.

"And we're not gonna hold it against you." Rin said.

"But the rest of the school will probably be giving you the cold shoulder for a while." Cecilia said.

"That might actually be a nice change of pace." Nick said with a less than halfhearted laugh.

At that moment, a girl with light blue hair and strangely red colored eyes came and stood in front of the group's table.

"My, that was an incredibly rude spectacle." The girl said unabashedly.

"Do I know you? Is there some reason I should be listening to this from you?" Nick asked.

"Wow! You really are an impolite one, aren't you?" The blue haired girl said.

Cecilia then spoke up, a discernable note of enmity in her voice.

"Actually, I usually find our Nick to be quite a lovely gentleman."

"Really? Well, I guess gentlemanliness is all in the eye of the beholder." The girl said.

She then looked back at Nick.

"Oh, but now I've been a bit rude. You wanted to know who I am. My name is Tatenashi Sarashiki and I'm the president of the student council. I'm basically the most powerful student in the school." She said matter-of-factly.

Nick was unimpressed. "And?"

"And, for being such a boorish clout, I think you should be made to scrub all of the rocks throughout the entire campus." Tatenashi said.

"Excuse me?!" Nick asked incredulously.

"That's quite enough!" Cecilia yelled as she slammed her hands down onto the table and stood up.

"You may be the Student Council President, but not even you can penalize someone for nothing! Nick made a small mistake simply because he did not know Japanese etiquette, but he has not broken any school rules in the least and you cannot doll out punishment simply because you think he's rude!" Cecilia shouted at Tatenashi.

"No need to get so huffy." Tatenashi said. "I was only kidding, really! Just wanted to come over and introduce myself to our only American classmate. I'll see you around, Nicky."

Tatenashi then walked away.

"Wow. Thanks, Cecilia. I really appreciate that." Nick said.

"I cannot stand someone who tries to throw their weight around." Cecilia stated without really talking to anyone.

She sat back down and looked to her side at Nick.

"Kidding or not, I wasn't about to let her bully someone I..." Cecilia paused, reconsidering her coming words. "Someone I consider to be one of my very good friends."

"Well, again, thank you, Cecilia."

"Anytime, Nick D..." Cecilia quieted herself before finishing her sentence.

For the rest of the breakfast, Nick couldn't help but smile as he ate and talked and laughed with Cecilia. What he failed to notice was Houki on his other side, looking at him and grimacing slightly.

In clasroom 1-1, everyone was listening as Chifuyu Orimora and Maya Yamada were giving a lecture about the tactical differences between laser IS guns and conventional bullet IS guns. Even though most of the class were paying close attention, there was one student who was not being so attentive. It was Houki.

Houki looked back over her shoulder and glanced at Nick. She stared at him with a mixture of misgiving, confusion and a slight touch of longing.

"Why am I thinking like this?" Houki asked herself.

She turned her head back to the front of the class and tried to focus on the lesson, but her mind kept wandering. She turned her gaze to the side and looked at Ichika.

"Could I possibly be attracted to Nick? I don't understand how. Ever since I started this school, all I've wanted is to get closer to Ichika. All I've really wanted is for stupid Ichika to notice how much I feel for him and maybe start to reciprocate my feelings."

Houki looked back at Nick again.

"But, this morning, before that thing happened, during that talk, that look on Nick's face. I know that look. I've worn it myself. It's a look of someone remembering something they really don't want to. Even if there'd been any doubt, the way he changed the subject confirmed it." Houki thought. "Nick and I have a kind of connection that way."

She looked at Ichika again.

"I'm nuts about Ichika. He's kind-hearted, sweet, dedicated, massively thick and he and I don't really seem to connect much."

She looked at Nick.

"But, Nick has a lot of those better qualities as well, and he's strong, as strong as me and he seems to know what he wants. More than that, I've gotten to know him a bit during our sparring sessions and he and I actually have a few things in common."

Houki watched as Nick and Cecilia leaned close and whispered something to each other. Cecilia gave a quiet giggle as Nick completed his whisper.

"I know he's caught on to how all of us feel about Ichika, but he's still pursuing Cecilia anyway, because he likes her and he isn't dense enough to not know what he wants or too afraid to go after it. Could I possibly...? _NO!_ No, I do not like Nick! I'm just thinking about him because I wish Ichika would chase after me the same way. Yes, that's it!" Houki shouted in her head.

She was about to twist back to Chifuyu and Miss Yamada, but before she could, it transpired that Nick looked in her direction and their eyes met. They spent a moment lingering before each smiled lightly, broke eye contact and looked forward.

Cecilia happened to see the exchange and to her monolithic surprise, she felt a twinge of jealousy that normally only occurred when she and the rest of the girls were competing over Ichika.

"Orimora! Dunois!" Chifuyu half-shouted. "Stand up."

Ichika and Charlotte got up from their desks and stood in front of the class.

Chifuyu said, "Dunois, I want you to demonstrate the rapid switch for the class."

"The what?" Ichika asked.

Chifuyu did not respond to him.

"Now, observe the rapid switch!" Charlotte declared.

She lifted her right hand over her head and her Rafale-Revive Custom II IS deployed and formed around her body in less time than it usually would. Ichika immediately started to cower beneath her.

"Uh, hold on. Can we talk? Charlotte, buddy, old pal." Ichika pleaded.

Charlotte then pointed one of her IS guns right into Ichika's face.

"Is something wrong, Orimora?" She asked in a good-natured voice.

As soon as he saw the gun in Charlotte's hand, it happened to Nick. The fact that it was a bullet firing gun was what triggered him. It brought back the memory and forced him to relive it. The heat of the sun on his face the day it happened. The sensation of the blood splasing across him. The horrible, exploding sound of the bullet that had done it. Nick felt the sweat break on his forehead, the constriction in his chest, the shortness of his breath, his heart beating furiously faster. He had to stop it.

Without any concept of what he was doing, Nick jumped out of his chair and activated his own IS. He super-sped through the room, ramming into Charlotte at more than two-hundred miles-per-hour. They both crashed straight through the wall into the outer hallway. Nick pummeled Charlotte's shield with phenominally rapid punch after phenominally rapid punch. He kept right on striking her until her shield energy was depleted and the emergency system of Charlotte's IS kicked in, deconstructing the suit and leaving her helpless.

It was the sight of the vulnerability of Charlotte that brought Nick back to himself. The entire scene had taken place in the space of less than thirty seconds. No one else had been able to respond before it was over. All of Class 1-1 and 1-2 had entered the hall and was staring at him. Nick deactivated Speed Demon and looked down at the French girl trembling at his feet.

"Oh my God! Charlotte! Are you alright?!" Nick asked frantically.

He held out his hand to help her up. Charlotte nearly recoiled away from him, but when she saw the genuine shock and concern in his face, she couldn't. She took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. Nick then at last noticed the crowd that had gathered about. He tried to find the words to attempt to explain what had happened, but there were no words. He couldn't possibly explain. All he could do was to look back at Charlotte and apologize.

"I'm sorry about that, Charlotte. I'm sorry."

Nick then walked away, Rin and the other girls in his path getting out of his way as he went. Ichika, Cecilia and Houki all started off to go after him. Chifuyu held up her hand and stopped them.

"Let him go. Show's over! Everyone get back to your classes!" She yelled.

Everyone quietly and grudgingly slipped back into their classrooms.

After class, all of the second year students were told to assemble in the school auditorium to hear from the student council. Ichika had found Nick beforehand and forced him to come along. He'd tried to get Nick to talk to him about what had happened but Nick said nothing. Nick stood uncomfortably in the assembly. Many of the girls around him were whispering and glancing towards him. Nick just stood there, looking at his feet, trying not to meet anyone's eyes.

A voice came over the PA saying, "Ladies and gentlemen of the IS Academy, standby for an address from the president of your student council."

"Ughll! Not her!" Nick groaned in his mind.

He watched with absolutely no interest and a small amount of loathing as the blue haired Tatenashi walked across the stage to the podium in the center.

"Hmm. Things have been hectic this past year." Tatenashi began. "So hectic that many of you haven't met me. My name is Tatenashi Sarashiki, and if you're in this school's student body, that makes me your head."

"She really loves to talk about herself, doesn't she?" Nick thought.

On the stage, Sarashiki winked into the crowd and Nick noticed that Ichika flinched in response. Ichika must have thought that Sarashiki was winking at him.

She went on, "Our annual school festival is coming up, that means each class must decide what they want to do as a fund raising project."

Tatenashi then opened her hand fan in front of her face for a reason Nick couldn't discern.

"Good luck." She said. "Oh, yes, also, as a side note, the school maintenance department has asked me to request to all of you to please not demolish any and all school walls or buildings if it can possibly be helped."

She looked directly at Nick at that point with a smug and knowing glare. The story of what happened less than an hour before had obviously already spread throughout the entire school. A few bothered whispers spread throughout the auditorium again, accopanied by just as many stifled laughs. Nick had to keep himself from groaning auibly and just walking out.

At the end of the day Nick was still as unhappy as he'd been since his outburst in class. Most of the members of class 1-1 and Miss Yamada had gathered in one of the vacated classrooms to discuss what they were going to do for their project and Nick had somehow allowed Ichika to drag him along to this gathering as well. Since he didn't feel like sitting, Nick was leaning against the wall by the windows. Ichika was standing at the front of the room. Everyone had already handed in their project suggestions and five had been randomly selected by computer as the frontrunners.

Ichika said, "Okay, the suggestions handed in for this semester's class fund raiser project are..."

Ichika trailed off, piquing Nick's interest and making him look at the screen on the wall behind Ichika for the first time. The suggestions on the screen read "The King Game with Ichika Orimora", "The Pocky Game with Ichika Orimora", "Twister with Ichika Orimora" and "Nick Williams's and Ichika Orimora's Host Club". Nick figured since he and Ichika were the only two guys in the school that all of the ideas would have included the both of them if it hadn't been for his earlier freak out. If it hadn't been for his crappy mood, Nick would have been amused by it all, but, as it was, he couldn't derive any entertainment from the pitiable little gasping sounds Ichika was making.

"All rejected!" Ichika shouted at everyone.

All the girls in the class inhaled sharply in surprise.

"Are you nuts?!" Ichika shouted again. "Who would want to do any of that kind of stuff?!"

"I'm absolutely sure I would, no doubt." Said a redheaded girl who was mooning at Ichika.

"Tanemoto's right! You should follow through with your duty to please us!" Another girl added.

A girl with glasses stood from her desk. "Yeah, Ichika Orimora and Nick Williams are public property!"

Several other girls got to their feet and joined in protesting as well. Ichika's face was showing great panic as he kept sputtering random syllables, trying to find any words to help himself. Ichika then turned and looked to Nick by the window.

"Nick, back me up here, man!"

Nick replied, "Any of 'em would bring in a lot of money."

"That's not helping!" Ichika shouted at him.

Ichika then turned to their assistant teacher for aid.

"Miss Yamada, you wouldn't actually approve any of these ludicrous ideas, would you?"

Nick watched as Miss Yamada put a hand to her own cheek and blushed.

"Actually, from the suggestions I've seen so far, I think I'd prefer the one with the pocky." She said.

Ichika gaped at her in disbelief. Nick finally couldn't help but crack a smirk. The school was entirely ridiculous. The fact that he and Ichika were the only two male IS pilots in the world, that there were no male instructors at the academy, and throw in the fact that all the students were hormone ravaged teens made it so that the girls were all completely man-thirsty with no one to focus it on but them.

"It'd probably be a better idea to do something a bit more commonplace." Nick then said.

Everyone turned and gawked at him. The girls expressions were a mixture of dissapointment and reproachment and Ichika's was one of sheer gratitude.

"Yes, Nick, thank you pal!"

"Perhaps ze maid cafe?" Laura proposed from the back row.

Everyone turned back and looked at her.

"A maid cafe, Laura?" Ichika asked.

"I'm sure it would be vell received, und besides, an eatery will let you earn back the money you spent on it." Laura said.

"What's a maid cafe?" Nick asked, becoming more interested.

Charlotte responded to him. "A maid cafe is a Japanese eatery where women serve you while dressed in French maid outfits."

This produced an instant image in Nick's mind. An image of Cecilia wearing a French maid's costume.

"I am all for that!" A suddenly enthusiastic Nick declared.

"That is a good one." Charlotte said. "Not only that, we could have Nick and Ichika either helping out in the kitchen or they could be butlers."

"Huh?" Ichika grunted.

"Say what?" Nick asked.

"Orimora and Williams the butlers? That sounds awesome!" One girl mused.

Another girl then stood up from her desk.

"Okay, so we've settled on the cafe idea." She announced.

Nick went over and stood next to Ichika.

"You get the feeling we've just been shanghaied?" Nick asked, his brief excitement diminished.

"I guess could we pretend it's just a cafe with some unusual outfits." Ichika said.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

Nick and Ichika made their way out of the room. In the hallway, Ichika lifted his arm, pushed his uniform sleeve back and used his Byakushiki gauntlet to check the time. It was 4:02PM.

Ichika gasped, "Oh no! It's already time for my special training!"

Ichika started to run.

"Ah ah ah! Hi there!" A voice sounded.

Nick and Ichika both turned to look and saw Tatenashi Sarashiki. She started to approach them.

"Right. Student body president. Of course." Ichika said.

"What do you want, now?" Nick asked nastily. "Come to scold us for breathing?"

"Wow, I thought I just might have gotten a bad first impression, but you are really are exceptionally rude, aren't you?" Tatenashi asked back.

"Only to people I don't like."

"And you..." She looked back to Ichika. "Don't be so formal. Just call me Tatenashi."

"Uh huh, and what do you want?" Ichika asked.

"Oh, what I want is to be your very personal IS coach." She said.

"Huh? Hold on, this is totally out of the blue. And I already have so many coaches, I don't need a new one."

She confidently asked, "If you have so many, why is your performance still so weak?"

Ichika looked away from Tatenashi. "Well, that's rather personal. And I don't think I'm all that weak."

"Oh yes, you are. Totally limp in the saddle. In fact, compared to your rude friend here, I'd say it's debatable whether you're really an IS pilot at all."

Ichika then became angry and turned to face her. Tatenashi put her hand fan right in his face, stopping him before he could say anything.

Tatenashi went on, "Therefore, in order to make you just a teensy peensy bit better, I'm going to be your personal trainer from now on."

"Ichika, don't listen to her man. She's trying to goad you into agreeing to something stupid." Nick advised his friend.

Ichika's anger, however, had resurfaced and he was not listening to Nick.

"I'll tell you what Miss Rude-y Bossy, let's setlle this IS style! We fight and the winner tells the loser what to do!" Ichika spat at Sarashiki.

"And she's succeeding at it." Nick said aloud to only himself.

"Sure! Sounds fun!" Tatenashi agreed to the challenge.

"Ichika." Nick said very calmly.

Ichika then finally remembered Nick's presence and looked at him.

"Even though I'd usually find you getting beat up by a girl immensely entertaining, I've really had enough for one day, so I'm gonna go find someplace to be alone." Nick said in a tone that was defeated, bored and fed up all at once.

Taken aback by his friend's inflection, Ichika lost some of the steam he'd had a moment before. Even Tatenashi's face registered unexpected surprise by it.

"Yeah, uh, okay, Nick. I'll see you later, man."

Nick then turned and walked away from them.

After leaving Ichika, Nick had wandered around with no real destination in mind for a while, trying to avoid his fellow students as best he could. It'd started to make him even more frustrated though, because, whenever he passed any girls they either giggled to each other about something they'd said that was clearly about him or they quietly whispered to each other, clearly about him. He kept roaming until, after a long while, he found himself outside of one of the IS match arenas. Nick didn't know if it was the one all of the girls would be waiting for Ichika in or not, but if it wasn't, he knew it'd be the ideal place to gain solitude.

He made his way inside to the arena stands. Standing at the top of the steps, Nick didn't see a single sign of Charlotte, Laura, Cecilia, Rin or Houki. He stepped down the stairs and went into the arena battle area. He walked out to the very center and laid down on the ground, putting his hands underneath his head and not caring if his white school uniform became dirtied. Nick closed his eyes and drifted into a sort of limbo between sleeping and consciousness.

In the oblivion his mind was currently residing in, Nick found a bit of relief from the harshness of his day. His mind was nearly blank. Swirling images of nondescript shape or form floated through his mind's eye. It was an exercise he often did when he was severely stressed or exhausted. Sometimes, it was the _only_ thing he could do to calm himself. He lost all track of time as he swam in the serenity of it.

Nick thought about all the things that usually gave him pleasure; the martial arts, the motorcycle racing, the snowboarding, the scuba diving, the skydiving and now, the IS piloting. He thought about all the things he'd been doing for the past five years. He thought about how much fun it had all been, how distracting, how concealing.

"Nick?" A voice asked from above his head.

Nick opened his eyes to see Rin standing over him. Her hair in its two ponytails on either side of her head were hanging a few inches abover his face.

"Hi Rin."

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Just trying to be alone."

"Oh, uh, do you want me to leave?"

"No, it's okay." Nick said.

He sat up, forcing Rin to straighten to her full height.

"What are you doing here?" Nick asked Rin. "Since none of you were here already I figured you'd be in one of the other arenas for Ichika's training."

"I got held up while my class was picking our project and the others waited for me." Rin said.

Nick then stood up on his feet as well. He saw Cecilia, Laura, Houki and Charlotte were coming onto the field as well, all dressed in their pilot's outfits. With the exception of Laura, they all dawned expressions of concern and sympathy.

"Hey everyone." Nick said without much enthusiasm.

He looked directly at Charlotte, his eyes full of remorse.

"Hi Charlotte."

"Bonjour." Charlotte replied politely.

"How are you, Nick?" Cecilia asked.

"I'm okay." He responded.

"We've been worried about you." Houki said, looking down at her feet. "Ever since..."

Laura interrupted and finished the sentence. "Since you vent crazy und attacked Charlotte."

Nick rubbed the back of his head with his hand and stared at the ground reproachfully.

"Yeah uh..." Nick lifted his head and looked at Charlotte. "I'm really sorry about that. Are you alright?"

"Oh yes, I am fine mon ami." Charlotte said.

"Nick, I don't wish to press you, but if you could possibly tell us why that happened." Cecilia gently prodded.

Nick thought about answering, but then the image of the gun entered his mind again. He quickly turned away from the girls, clenching his fists and teeth, forcing himself with all his mental strength to not remember.

"But, if you don't want to, you certainly don't have to tell us!" Cecilia frantically added.

Nick didn't want to tell them. He didn't want to relive it. He spent so much effort and energy to avoid any and everything that could possibly make him relive it. Still, there was something about this group, these friends that made him think he should say something. He couldn't tell the story, but he thought he should explain at least a part. Although still fighting tremendously with himself internally, Nick spoke to all the girls in a slow, quiet, hesitant way and without turning back to look at them.

"I... I have a thing about... bullets." He choked out.

None of the girls spoke for a long time.

"I see." Charlotte broke the silence. "So, when I deployed my Revive and pulled out my gun..."

Nick nodded. He was still not facing them.

"Did something involving a gun happen to you?" Houki asked him.

All the girls noticed his fists clench tighter and his body become stiffer.

"I really don't think we need to know anything more right now." Cecilia then proclaimed to everyone. "I think Nick's likely had quite enough for today."

She walked the ten feet they were separated and cupped her hand around one of Nick's fists.

"I'd say you should probably go to your room and get some rest, but if you'd like to stay and watch and possibly train with us, that would be fine too." She said softly to him.

"I appreciate that, Cecilia, I really do."

He turned to face her. Cecilia gasped a small intake of breath as she saw his face. It was darker and more downtrodden than she or any of the others had seen before.

"But, I think I'll just go back to my room." Nick said to her.

"Very well, Nick. If I can do anything to help..."

"You'll be the first I'll call." Nick completed her sentence.

He turned away from her again and started out of the arena. He passed an entering Ichika and Tatenashi and stopped beside them.

"I take it you lost." Nick addressed Ichika.

Ichika nodded weakly.

"Figured." Nick said before starting off again.

Cecilia was concernedly staring after him as he left. Houki had a disturbed expression on her face as well. Quietly and studiously observing all of it from the rear, Laura was silently enthralled.

"I zink I now have come to my conclusion. It is time to form a strategy und recruit comrades." Laura thought to herself.

An hour later, none of the girls training with Ichika, they'd accepted when Laura invited them to her room to discuss what she described to them as a matter of great opportunity. The group assembled consisted of Laura, Houki, Rin and Charlotte.

"Alright Laura, why'd you ask us up here?" Rin asked.

"As I said, I vant to speak about what I believe is potentially a great opportunity." Laura said.

"But, an opportunity for what?" Houki asked.

"Vhat ve all desire."

"I think you are referring to Ichika, no?" Charlotte asked.

"Ja." Laura confirmed. "It is no secret amongst ourselves zhat ve all vish to make Ichika our very own."

Rin asked, "Laura, would you get to the point?"

"Yes, I would like that myself." Charlotte said. "And why is Cecilia not here? If we are going to decide something regarding Ickika, should not Cecilia be part of the discussion?"

"No, she should not because Cecilia is part of the discussion we must have." Laura stated.

Those words quited and enraptured everyone's attention.

"I vant to ask all of you a question." Laura went on. "Have any of you noticed any kind of change in Cecilia which has happened recently?"

"Well, she seems to be a little less loud lately." Houki said.

"We do not seem to see her outside of class as often anymore." Charlotte said.

"Yeah, cause she seems to be spending a lot of time with Nick these days." Rin said.

"Go on." Laura told them.

"I guess the biggest change is she..." Rin paused as the impact of her next words struck her. "She isn't spending as much time around Ichika anymore."

"Because she is spending so much time with Nick." Charlotte added. "And when we all eat together, she is even starting to act towards Nick the way she has typically acted towards Ichika."

Houki said loudly, "Hang on! Are you trying to tell us that you think Cecilia likes Nick?"

Houki then thought about the urgency of her tone, surprising herself by it.

"Ja. I do believe Cecilia's feelings for our Ichika are beginning to ebb and transfer to Nick." Laura said.

Charlotte then said, "And if Nick and Cecilia were to start dating..."

"Then the rest of us would have one less competitor and a better chance of getting Ichika for ourselves!" Rin surmised the rest of the idea.

"Zhat is zhe basic concept, but zhere is a problem in our way." Laura said. "While Nick certainly vishes to be vith Cecilia above any other girl, I think Cecilia's feelings are still in their beginning stages und could possibly be snubbed out if something vere to happen. Something like zhe student council president suddenly competing as vell."

"So, what we have to do is work together to ensure that Nick and Cecilia get to spend more time alone together so Cecilia's feelings can develop." Charlotte said.

"And Nick'll take it from there cause unlike Ichika, he's not so stupid as to be blind to when a girl likes him." Rin said.

"Exactly. Zhen ve are all in agreement?" Laura asked.

"Agreed." Rin said.

"D'accord." Charlotte said.

Laura then looked at Houki when she did not provide an answer.

"Houki, you have been oddly quiet during zhis discussion. I vould have thought you vould be one of the most enthusiastic." Laura said.

The other two then looked at Houki as well. Houki had a deeply contemplative look on her face. It was a few moments before she came around and responded.

"Hmm? Oh! Yes! Of course I'm in! After all, I've been wanting to be with Ichika for longer than any of the rest of the you, so why wouldn't I be?" Houki then laughed a bit nervously.

The three other girls stared at her oddly and with a curiosity in their eyes for several moments.

"Definitely a new development." Laura thought. "I vill have to vait and see vhether or not it complicates the strategy."

Houki and Rin then got up to go back to their own rooms.

At dinner time that night, Nick was feeling conflicted, but for a different reason. Part of him wanted to go to dinner in the main cafeteria with the rest of the group and the other part just wanted to get the hell out of the entire place for a while. He wanted to get away for a bit, but he wasn't sure whether he wanted to be completely alone or not. He had been standing near the entrance to the cafeteria while debating. Nick turned to walk away to keep debating with himself when he ran into Cecilia. She beamed a happy smile at him. The warmth of her smile forced Nick to feel just a little bit better and crack a smirk himself.

"Hello Nick! Felling better I hope." She said.

"Yeah, a little bit." He said.

At that point, Houki had entered the cafeteria from the other side of the room. Unable to help herself, the confliction inside her rising, Houki went over and hid not quite completely out of view and within ear shot for eavesdropping.

"I'm so glad! Were you about to go into dinner?"

"I was thinking about it." Nick then had an idea. "Hey, you want to get out of here?"

"I'm sorry?" Cecilia asked back.

"Let's get out of here. Let's go out into the city to get dinner and then maybe have a look around at the sights." Nick suggested.

Cecilia took a moment to consider the offer. Houki was thinking about it as well. Houki thought about the plan the others had to try to force Nick and Cecilia together. She thought about how this outing would fall perfectly in line with that plan and how it could possibly even attain the end goals the others wanted all by itself. That thought made her act before she even realized what she was doing. Houki stepped out into view and walked up to them, acting as if she'd just wandered in. She spoke before Cecilia had the chance to answer.

"That sounds like fun!" Houki said as if she'd heard it offhand. "Thanks for the invite, Nick. I'd love to!"

Houki then realized what she was doing and she mentally scolded herself. She couldn't believe herself. She'd just injected herself into what otherwise would have been a private date because for some reason she couldn't stand the thought of Nick and Cecilia being alone together and the worst part of all was that she had no way to back out of it.

Nick was thinking about Houki's interjection as well. He'd wanted the excursion to be just him and Cecilia, as a way to get closer to her and possibly create a kiss invoking moment. Unfortunately, he couldn't see a way to turn Houki down without coming across as rude in front of Cecilia.

"Okay Houki, sure. The more the merrier." Nick said halfhearted.

Ichika, Laura, Charlotte, and Rin then showed up as well. Houki turned to them and realized she had a way to take some of the pressure off herself.

"Hey everyone, we're going out to a restaurant to eat tonight!" She declared.

Nick was then positively glowering at Houki behind her back. Her coming along with them was challenge enough, but with the whole group, speaking privately with Cecilia was going to be impossible.

Houki went on, "Yeah, Nick wanted to get out of school for a bit so he's invited us all to go out with him."

Charlotte, Rin and Laura all gave Houki questioning glances, silently asking why she hadn't turned what they thought was a genuine invitation down.

"That sounds like fun." Ichika said. "I could actually use a break myself after that horrible training with Miss Student Council President."

"Okay, I guess we're all going." Nick groaned. "Let's all get changed into some normal clothes and meet at the auto garage in thirty minutes."

Nick then walked away.

"Did he say the auto garage?" Ichika asked.

"Ja, he did." Laura said.

"Well, that's where he said to meet." Rin said. "We should go get changed."

Thirty minutes later, the whole group were in the auto garage. Cecilia was the last to arrive, and that made Nick very happy because the entrance she made in the light pink dress she'd put on made her look like the most gorgeous film star to ever exist.

This was the first time Nick had seen all of them outside of their school uniforms. Houki was wearing a solid color t-shirt underneath a tank top, short shorts and tennish shoes. Laura was in a nice looking grey colored dress and high heels. Ichika had on just a t-shirt and jeans. Rin had on a striped t-shirt, a yellow denim jacket and shorts. Charlotte was wearing a pretty, orange blouse and a short black skirt. Nick himself was wearing a red, long sleeve, button up shirt, black jeans, his combat boots and his black leather jacket.

"So, Nick, why'd you wanna meet here? The monorail entrance is on the other side of the campus." Ichika said.

"Well, it's because I'm not taking the monorail." Nick said.

He walked over to his right five feet and pulled a white sheet off something in a parking spot. In the slot was a sleek and polished black sports motorcycle.

"Nick, is that yours?" Charlotte asked.

"Yep. It was a present from my Uncle. A sort of thank you for making Speed Demon the Representative Contender IS." Nick said. "It's a Namasaki Viking Z2R. It's got a top speed of over four-hundred miles-per-hour. I've been dying for a chance to take her for a spin! Who wants to ride with me?"

Even though Nick was smiling on the outside, on the inside he was still a bit tense.

"Dear God, please make Cecilia say 'yes.' Please keep Ichika from volunteering." He thought.

"I would love to ride with you, Nick." Cecilia said.

"YES! THANK YOU!" He screamed in his mind.

Cecilia then stepped over to Nick and the bike.

"Ladies first." He said.

Cecilia smiled and blushed slightly as she lifted her leg over the motorcycle and climbed onto the rear seat. Nick then climbed onto the bike himself and as soon as he was on, Cecilia leaned forward and hugged Nick around the waist, her breasts pressing against his back. The surge of ecstasy that coursed through Nick at that moment made him think he could die happy right then.

"See you guys on the other side." Nick said.

He then fired up the engine. It whirred with the high-pitched, yet powerful whine exclusive to motorcycles. He peeled away, doing a wheelie right off the line and making Cecilia squeal happily from the feel of it.

On the other side, at the monorail exit, Nick and Cecilia's fun had been sharply curtailed as, since the others had to walk on the sidewalk, Nick and Cecilia were forced to move slowly beside them so they could talk. As they walked with no destination in mind, Houki suggested they all go to the local mall's food court so that everyone could find something they wanted. Charlotte suggested they go to French restaurant in the city she'd heard about. The submissions from Rin, Laura and Cecilia followed similar suit to Charlotte's.

"Why don't we go to that historic part of town?" Ichika chimed in. "They got a bunch of different restaurants there and all those really cool, cultural attractions."

All seven of them looked back and forth from each other, no one saying a single word in disagreement.

"I guess that's decided then." Nick said.

As they continued walking, the conversation shifted between everyone's own ideas on what makes the best IS pilot and everyone's favorite, personal adventures they'd had. Nick was telling all of them about a time he'd won an intense motorcycle race on a massively elaborate stunt track suspended high in mid-air by IS propulsion technology.

"And then, I boosted through the loop, hit a jump jack, did a backwards spin through a trick, bonus hoop, stuck the landing, used my last tire puncture dart on the guy in front of me and took first place! And I did it all on this very bike. That was part of the gift from my uncle." Nick regaled them.

"Zhat vas you?!" Laura asked hotly. "I vas present at zhat race. Zhat man you overtook to vin vas in my unit. He vas demoted for failing to bring zhe trophy home to Germany."

"Well, I'm sorry for him, but I won that tournament fair and square." Nick said.

"It vas still a humiliating defeat."

"Maybe you guys should have picked a better rider then." Nick joked.

Houki and Cecilia both giggled at his comment. Rin looked to Houki at her side and furrowed her brow.

"Hey, Houki, can I ask you something?" Rin asked in a low voice.

"Uh, sure." Houki replied, suprised by Rin's hushed tone.

"Houki, did Nick really say he wanted all of us to come with him?"

Houki's cheeks flushed and her voice became a little frantic.

"Of course he did! Why would you even ask that?"

"It's just, Nick didn't really seem excited about it, and you're the only one who heard him make the offer." Rin said.

Houki said nothing and stared down at feet.

"Also, after that whole thing the four of us discussed, it would have helped the plan if it had just been Nick and Cecilia doing this."

"Well, see, I, uh..." An explanation then struck Houki. "After everything that's happened to Nick today, I thought it'd be better for him if we all just said 'yes.' Besides, it's not like we have any rush or time limit, is there? We can do stuff to help him and Cecilia together any time."

Rin stared at Houki as she thought it over for several moments.

"Yeah, your're right and if he wanted us all here to cheer him up, I guess it's the least we can do." Rin said and looked forwards again.

Houki breathed out and tried to keep the sound of relief out of her sigh.

Before the group took another step, Nick had suddenly stopped. They were just outside of the old district. Nick was looking at a building on his left. Ichika, Rin, Laura, Cecilia, Houki and Charlotte all turned to look at it as well. The building was a pizza restaurant somewhere between a nice place and a chain establishment.

"Pizza." Nick salivated. "Oh, pizza, that's what I want. I've been missing pizza."

"Nick, are you absolutely certain about this? Pizza is not exactly what I had in mind for my dinner." Cecilia said.

She then thought to herself, "Of course, neither was having everyone else along with us, either."

"Besides, I wouldn't even know what to order." She said aloud.

"'Would't know what to order?' Cecilia, have you never had pizza?" Nick asked.

"Well, no, I haven't."

"I've never had American style pizza either." Charlotte said.

"Neither have I." Laura said.

"Or me." Rin said.

"Or me." Ichika said.

"Me neither." Houki said.

Nick's face had become aghast.

"Oh! I cannot allow this to continue!" Nick said loudly. "We are going in there and we are getting the best pie they have! And in case anyone wants to argue, I've spent the last month and a half eating Chinese, German, British, French and so much Japanese food. It's only fair all of you have something American and it doesn't get much more American than pizza."

Everyone laughed a bit.

"I guess we've got no choice in the matter." Ichika said.

They all then crossed the street, Nick parked his bike, and they entered the restaurant. They found a booth near the back of the place just big enough for the seven of them and Nick made absolutely sure his seat was next to Cecilia before he got up again.

"Since I'm the only one here who knows pizza I'll order for all of us." Nick said to the group.

He went and got in line and patiently waited to order. As he stood in line, Nick considered what kind of pizzas to get for his friends. He truly couldn't believe that none of them had ever had pizza, so he wanted this to be a memorable experience. He didn't think any of them were vegetarians, but he didn't know for sure. He needed to gett them pizzas that would serve if any of them were.

"Let me have two large supreme pizzas for table fifteen." We said at the counter.

He then counted out the required yen and handed the bills over. When Nick got back to the booth, he was met by an unwelcome surprise. Ichika had gotten up from the table, presumably to use the men's room and when he returned, he'd taken Nick's seat by Cecilia.

"Sorry man, I just really didn't want to make everyone get up on account of me." Ichika said.

"But you've got no problem getting in my way again and again and again." Nick berated in his mind.

Having absolutely no other choice, Nick was forced to make the girls on the other side of the table get up so he could take Ichika's seat between Laura and Houki. Houki blushed as Nick squeezed down next to her.

"Funny, you two keep ending up in close quarters today." Ichika said. "Maybe someone's trying to tell you guys something."

Houki and Nick turned their heads and looked at each other, looking away again almost instantly. Houki then blushed deeper and Nick's cheeks reddened as well.

"That's ridiculous!" Nick declared.

"Yeah, we're just... friends." Houki said with an unconvincing tone.

Nick and Houki then both took a drink of water, trying their best not to look at each other.

"Yeah, well, you two would make a cute couple." Ichika said.

Nick and Houki both suddenly spit up their drinks, coughing and choking in shock.

"Um, Ichika dear, perhaps it would be best if we changed the subject to something else." Cecilia said with a note of irritation.

Cecilia's annoyance with Ichika pleased Nick greatly. It meant she was,as he'd been hoping, starting to develop feelings for him.

They spent the next twenty minutes idly conversing until the pizzas arrived. They were covered in pepperoni, sausage, peppers and several other toppings. The cheese was so warm it was still bubbling. Nick leaned over them and inhaled the aroma deeply.

"Ahh! Everybody dig in!" Nick exclaimed.

He lifted a slice up out of one of the pizza trays, blew on it for a minute and took a bite.

"Mmmm!" He groaned happily.

Rin, Ichika, Houki, Charlotte, Cecilia, and Laura all hesitated a moment before each picking up a slice themselves. They each blew on their pizza and took a bite and the effect was immediate.

"Mmmmmm!" They all cooed together.

"My word, I can't believe I've never had such a delicious food before!" Cecilia enthused after swallowing her first bite.

"This is awesome!" Ichika exclaimed.

"It's so good!" Charlotte said.

"Quite tasty." Laura said.

Rin and Houki said nothing as they were digging into their slices. They all chatted pleasantly as they thoroughly enjoyed every slice of the two pizzas. When they'd finished, they all sat back.

"That was some of the best food I've ever had." Rin said.

"It was so good." Houki said.

"I told you guys." Nick said. "Us Americans do get _some_ things right."

"Well, I believe I need to use the lavatory before we depart." Cecilia said.

"Yeah, so do I." Nick said.

Laura and Rin got up so Nick could slide out. While he and Cecilia made their way towards the restrooms, Charlotte, Rin, Laura and Houki all shot a knowing look between each other. Rin and Laura both grabbed onto Ichika's arms and pulled him out of the booth.

"What are you doing?" Ichika asked.

"Well, we just really want to go see that historic town nearby." Charlotte lied as she stood up.

"Ja! Ve vant to go see the old Japanese buildings und such!" Laura added.

"Shouldn't we wait for Nick and Cecilia?" Ichika asked as the girls dragged him out of the restaurant.

"Oh, they'll catch up to us!" Rin told him.

Houki said nothing during all of this. She was still feeling a reluctance to the plan she didn't understand, but there was no way she could voice it then or not go along with the other girls without revealing it.

Laura, Charlotte and Rin pulled and pushed Ichika right out of the building with Houki bringing up the rear.

Cecilia and Nick returned to the table to find it abandoned.

"Where is everyone?" Nick asked.

"I don't know. It isn't like them to just leave without a word." Cecilia said.

"I already paid for dinner. Let's head outside. Maybe they're waiting for us." Suggested Nick.

"Yes, that's probably it."

The two of them walked out of the restaurant to the sidewalk. They did not find their friends waiting for them there or where Nick had parked his motorcycle.

"Perhaps they headed back to the academy?" Cecilia asked.

"Maybe. Do you know how to get back there?" Nick asked back.

"I'm afraid I can't read the signs any better than you can." She said.

Nick gave a snorting little laugh.

"And so begins 'Lost in Japan 3.' I feel like a bad film series they won't let die." Nick said sarcastically.

Cecilia laughed at his joke.

"Who knows? Perhaps this is the one that revitalizes the whole series." She joked.

Nick and Cecilia laughed together then.

"They're probably in that nearby historic section Ichika told us about." Cecilia said. "Why don't we go see if we can find them?"

"Sounds like a plan. Can I escort you, m'lady?" Nick asked.

He extended his arm, elbow out, for Cecilia to loop hers through. Cecilia smiled and hooked her arm around Nick's.

"Such a gentleman. It Will be my pleasure kind sir." She said.

As they started toward the historic town, Nick beamed to himself, savoring the feel of Cecilia's arm and the smell of her perfume.

"'It will be my pleasure kind sir.'" Nick repeated her sentence in his mind. "I could get used to this kind of high-class talk."

The two found and entered the historic district. It was amazing. It was basically an old world Japanese village in the middle of the modern city. All of the buildings were in the traditional Japanese style with tiled roofs that extended outwards. The streets were lit with hanging paper lanterns. There were stands of people selling homemade sushi.

Nick and Cecilia entered an open plaza and found an enthralling street show. Two men in ninja costumes were play duking it out to a crowd of onlookers. They were punching and kicking at each other with tremendous skill which was made even more impressive by how closely they almost hit each other without making any contact.

"Your fighting abilities in your Speed Demon are far more impressive." Cecilia praised Nick.

"Don't say that." Nick contradicted nicely. "Skills like that are not easy to develop. These guys are amazing."

They watched for several more minutes until the display was concluded and the ninja bowed to the crowd. The two IS pilots moved on. They soon found a long, cobblestone road with cherry blossom trees hanging overhead. The road was an odd one. Almost all of the cobblestones had Japanese kanji pictorials on them, and there were many potholes where it seemed that stones had never even been.

Nick said, "I think I've read about this. I think its called the road of eternity. The superstition is supposed to be that if a loving couple craft a cobblestone with their names on it and place it in the road, they'll be linked to each other throughout all time."

"Sounds like a wonderful superstition to indulge in." She said.

She and Nick slowly and happily strolled down the road, enjoying the sentiment of the stones beneath their feet even though they could not understand the writings upon them. Behind them, Ichika and the rest of the girls passed by the beginning of the road. Ichika spotted his two friends down the way.

"Hey, there's Nick and Cecilia." Ichika said. He then loudly called out, "Hey gu..."

Rin, Laura, Houki and Charlotte all forcibly pushed Ichika forward and out of sight to keep him from interrupting the other two.

Nick and Cecilia continued to explore. They toured a small museum dedicated to the history of the samurai, bought a dessert of mochi ice cream balls and generally enjoyed each other's company and largely forgot about looking for their friends. Back near where they'd entered the village in the first place, they came across a shop advertising fortune telling in both Japanese and English.

"What do you say?" Nick asked Cecilia. "Want to go in? Maybe we can find out who's going to win the next Mondo Grosso and put money on 'em."

She giggled.

"And perhaps we can also learn what you Americans are hiding in your Area 51." Cecilia joked.

Nick laughed. They were about to go inside to further the joke when something strange happened. A group of five men riding motorcycles came to a precision stop about ten feet away from the two of them. They were all dressed in matching leather riding outfits and helmets. The man on the middle bike dismounted and approached them. Cecilia took her arm out of Nick's and the two stood ready for whatever might happen. The man stopped and stared at them.

He was tall for a Japanese man, standing about five feet ten inches tall. He looked to be about thirty years old. He had a hard, intense face with a cleanly kept goatee.

"What do you want?" Nick asked.

He had kept his voice calm and controlled, not wanting to show the unease he was feeling. When the man replied, it was in perfect English, but with a thick Japanese accent attached.

"Your Infinte Stratos. Give them to me." He said.

Nick and Cecilia looked at each for a moment and then burst out laughing. The man with the intense face did not change his expression as they cackled.

While still laughing, Nick wheezed out, "Oh man! Did you ever pick the wrong two people to try to rob!"

"How true!" Cecilia squealed. "Do you have any idea who we are?"

The man said nothing as he simply continued to stare at them.

"Shall we?" Cecilia asked Nick.

"Lets." Nick said.

The two gave the mental command for their IS' to activate, but nothing happened. Nick and Cecilia looked at each other. They were stunned speechless.

"Perhaps you thought to use your IS' against us." The man with the intense face said. "I think you'll find that quite difficult with the dampening field our motorcycles are emanating."

The man then reached behind himself and began to pull something out of his belt. Nick saw a tiny glint of gunmetal and the flashback happened again. The heat of the sun on his face the day it happened. The sensation of the blood splashing across him. The horrible, exploding sound of the bullet that had done it. Nick felt the sweat break on his forehead, the constriction in his chest, the shortness of his breath, his heart beating furiously faster.

The memory of it triggered the same response as when he'd seen Charlotte's gun earlier in the day and Nick lashed out. Nick kicked the man's gun hand away with his right foot, uppercut his chin with his left fist and then sent a spinning right elbow into the man's temple.

"Run!" Nick yelled at Cecilia.

They both turned and booked it at their top speeds. The man's four compatriots turned the engines of their bikes over again and gave chase. Cecilia and Nick turned a corner and ran out of the historic village. Passing the pizza parlor, the two teens jumped onto Nick's motorcycle and he fired it up and peeled out.

As they sped down the street, the enemy riders caught up and began to shoot at them.

"Nick, what do we do?!" Cecilia shouted over the rushing wind.

"I'm working on it!" Nick yelled back.

As he weaved the bike in and out of traffic, Nick spotted a landmark that told him they were headed back in the general direction of the academy's monorail and the mall nearby it. Nick had an idea. He steered the bike in the direction of the mall and accelerated.

Nick swerved into the mall's garage entrance. The enemy riders followed, but, bad luck struck one of them and a semi-truck bashed into him as he was turning in. Down in the garage, Nick sped towards the stairs into the main mall, quickening their velocity to pull away from and out of sight of their pursuers. He and Cecilia hit the stairs and she gripped his waist even tighter to keep from falling off. One of the three remaining riders reached the stairs and ascended. At the top of the stairs, he was knocked off his bike when Nick spun his Namasaki on the front wheel so that the rear tire punched the rider in the head.

Nick and Cecilia tore off again as the remaining two came up the stairs. On the main floor, it was harder to maneuver due to the people in the way. The bullets resumed firing and the crowd screamed and scattered. One of the riders aimed a shot carefully and it grazed both Cecilia and Nick's heads.

"Aah!" Cecilia squealed in shock.

His adrenaline rising higher, Nick wanted nothing more than to stop the bullets. He hit the brakes hard, howling to a halt. The two riders swiftly began to overtake them, but before they could react, Nick grabbed the back collar of one, ripped him right off his motorcycle and pounded his head into a pillar. Nick then jammed the accelerator again, turned the bike in a half circle and drove in the opposite direction before the final rider could turn to follow.

Turning a corner, Nick and Cecilia thought they might have lost their last opponent. As they went deeper into the mall, a broken, static filled image suddenly appeared on the right side of Nick's head. It was a transmission over the IS' communications system.

"We must be clearing that dampening field." Cecilia said.

A hazy and faded image of Houki appeared on the holographic screen.

"Nick... ilia... heard gunf... okay?" Houki asked through the static.

"We're fine." Nick told her. "We're being chased by some guys after our IS'."

"We're coming... you." Houki said.

"No, Houki, you all need to stay back! They have a dampening field that shuts down IS'." Cecilia exclaimed over Nick's shoulder.

The image then disintegrated, the call was lost and they heard the sound of a different motorcycle engine approaching again.

Nick and Cecilia then emerged into a large open space with a fountain in the middle of the court. The square had a skylight in the roof overhead and some type of artistic sculpture made of flat, smooth, polished metal that resembled a dinosaur skeleton and ran tall for over twenty feet.

Nick saw what followed in slow motion. Houki was flying towards them from outside in her Akatsubaki. The last rider was coming in hot behind them, the field coming from his motorcycle still active. Houki broke through the glass skylight and fired a laser at the rider from one of her katanas. The laser hit the floor just in front of the rider, causing him to turn the bike to try to avoid it. He fell off in a slide and crashed into the fountain. The dampening field was still active. Houki entered it and her Infinite Stratos was forcibly deactivated. Houki started to fall through the air.

"Hold on!" Nick ordered Cecilia.

He spun the tires, launching into a wheelie and jumping onto the art sculpture. Nick drove swiftly up the metal surface, quickly and carefully threading the thin line available. Houki was in his sights. He could see the only way to save her and knew he had to time it just right. Advancing towards the tip of the sculpture, Nick hit the boost button on his controls and he and Cecilia rocketed forwards, driving right off the end. Everything seemed to freeze and stall for a moment as all three of them were hanging in the air. Nick stood up on the bike and held out his arms. Time seemingly resumed just as Nick caught Houki and they all went through a second floor guardrail and collided into a wall.

Cecilia, Houki and Nick all just stayed there for a while, breathing hard. Houki looked up at Nick with wonder in her eyes.

"Nick, you caught me." She said.

"I was just lucky." Nick said modestly. "You okay?"

Houki nodded with a smile dawning on her face. Nick then looked back over his shoulder.

"Cecilia, how about you? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I don't think I've been badly injured." She answered.

"Good, I'm really glad you're both okay." Nick said.

Both girls blushed and beamed at him.

"Guys!" A voice shouted at them.

The three looked up and saw Charlotte, Ichika, Laura and Rin all hovering just outside the skylight looking at them.

"Stay there!" Nick yelled dramatically. "The motorcycle is projecting a field that shuts down IS'!"

Laura looked down at where the rider and his bike were separately lying on the floor. She then activated her immense laser cannon on her shoulder and obliterated the bike.

"Not any longer." Laura announced.

The four in the air and the three on the second floor all made their way down and converged at the fountain. From outside the skylight they could see distant police lights getting closer. They all looked around at the emptied mall and the signs of destruction.

"What happened here?" Charlotte asked.

"Nick and I were attacked." Cecilia said.

"By who?" Rin asked.

"Good question." Nick asked. "I'd like to know that myself."

He then walked over to where the last rider was lying, picked him up by the collar and pushed his helmet off.

"Who sent you?!" Nick asked harshly.

The man was clearly going to either resist or feign not understanding the question. Before he could try a ruse, Laura, Rin, Charlotte and Ichika all put their weapons in the guy's face from around Nick's shoulders. Fear bloomed on the man's face.

In a hoarse voice he whispered, "Phantom Task."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it took a bit of work. Would love to hear your thoughts in the reviews section. Please like and follow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ichika woke up with a terrible start. An ice cold bucket of water had been sloshed onto him. Ichika screamed and rolled right out of bed, hitting his head on the nightstand on his way down.

"Aaaah! Graah!" Ichika groaned as he rubbed his head.

He then looked up into the smirking face of Tatenashi Sarashiki.

"Time for training!" She cooed in her sickly sweet, domineering tone.

"Tatenashi!" Ichika then looked at his alarm clock. "It's 6:30 in the morning! What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, it's time for your training. I've decided that just doing it after school isn't enough, so we're going to be doing sessions both before and after class every day now!" Tatenashi said.

Ichika stood up and looked around the room.

"I'm afraid your rude friend isn't here to back you up if that's what you're looking for." Tatenashi added.

Ichika saw that she was right. Nick was not in the room and there were no sounds to suggest he could be in the bathroom. Ichika sighed his resignation.

"Alright. Let's go." He said.

Tatenashi giggled at his submissiveness. Ichika stood up and moved to get dressed. He was just about to start taking off his clothes when he saw that Tatenashi was still standing there, staring at him and beaming her wickedly amused smile.

"Uh, Tatenashi, would you mind?"

"No. Not at all. You can continue." She said.

With a small moan of irritation, Ichika pulled an outfit out of his drawers, took them into the bathroom and locked the door. Tatenashi stepped close to the door.

"No need to be shy, you know. I've seen it all from photos in your school medical record." She said through the door.

From inside, she could hear a clatter and then what sounded like Ichika's body hitting the floor.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Just kidding!" She yelled back.

OOO

Nick dodged to his left, avoiding a laser blast from one of Cecilia's tear cannons. He then performed several handstand back-flips to continue dodging her blasts. Tapping into the tremendous velocity potential of Speed Demon, Nick sped around to her flank while still on the ground, and then used his force-field projectors to propel himself up until he was right behind her. Nick moved to plant a super-strong punch into her back, but before he could deliver it, Cecilia spun around and whipped her large sniper rifle into his side, knocking him away.

Nick fell down for about a hundred feet before making a platform beneath himself to recover. A split second after regaining his balance, he was shot by Cecilia's main rifle and all four tear cannon drones. It reduced his shield energy down to one-hundred-eighty remaining points.

Nick dodged her next volley and maneuvered back up towards her, but Cecilia didn't make it easy. Her tear cannons were zipping all around Nick, forcing him to zigzag through the air to evade their lasers. Managing to get close to her again after several minutes, Nick ignited the laser panel over his right leg and put a hard spinning-kick into her shield. He then used the enhanced strength granted to him by his IS to punch her downward.

Cecilia fell back towards the arena below. As she fell, she fired all five of her separate laser guns back up at Nick. Nick dodged all her shots by running straight down at her. The micro-jets of Speed Demon moved him down at faster than terminal velocity, allowing him to close the gap between them.

Inside the arena, only several hundred feet away form the ground, Nick saw Ichika step onto the grounds and walk directly underneath their trajectory.

"Cecilia, behind you!" Nick shouted over the com-link.

Cecilia looked back over her shoulder and saw Ichika. She pulled out of her dive and swooped past him with only ten feet of space to spare. The wind following behind her knocked Ichika off of his feet and rolled him for eighteen feet before he stopped. Ichika sat up just as Cecilia and Nick each landed near him.

"Ichika, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" Cecilia asked.

"I don't think anything's broken." Ichika said. "Although, it didn't help my sore muscles from Tatenashi's training. What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"We booked this arena. Why are you here?" Nick asked.

"The school festival is tomorrow. We're all supposed to be helping put the finishing touches on the maid cafe, and you two aren't there. Houki sent me to find you."

"Oh, well, about that..." Cecilia trailed off.

"What?" Ichika asked as he stood up.

"See, ah, after twenty girls from our class ambushed me and tried to forcibly measure me for a butler costume last week, I kind of convinced Chifuyu that only one butler was really needed for the project." Nick said.

Ichika's face fell. "What?"

"And then I sort of convinced her that it'd be great entertainment for all of the guests if Cecilia and I put on a series of exhibition matches."

"So, we're out here practicing the routine we came up with. We want the show to be exciting, so it's important we get it right." Cecilia finished the explanation.

Ichika's face was unreadable, but after a moment, he smiled.

"Ha! Good one, guys. You almost had me going there for a second. Now, come on, the others are all waiting for us."

"I'm sorry, man, but this isn't a joke." Nick said.

"Of course, we're still more than happy to help finish setting the cafe up, we just won't be serving in it tomorrow." Cecilia said.

Ichika's face fell again. "You're really not kidding?"

Cecilia and Nick both shook their heads.

"You mean I have to tell Laura, Houki, and Charlotte that they're down a waitress, _AND _I have to deal with all those girls all by myself tomorrow?" Ichika asked.

"Ichika Dear, I'm very sorry about this, but when Nick asked me to do this with him, it just sounded too fun to pass up." Cecilia said.

"Wha, uh, Nick, what about you?! I thought we were going to help each other through this thing!"

"I'm sorry, but when all those girls ambushed me, I realized I just couldn't handle all of them paying to do things to me and with me for an entire day."

"And you think I can?" Ichika asked.

"Well, you have been dealing with this weird school for longer than I have, so you are more used to it than me. Besides, if we have some time off from the shows, maybe Cecilia and I could come by and rent you for an hour, give you a break." Nick said.

"I guess I can't blame you. If I could get out of doing this, I would too. But, Nick, you are really gonna owe me for bailing on me like this."

"Yeah, totally agreed. I owe you one, man." Nick said.

"Well, guess I ought to get back and tell Houki and the others about this. Considering they probably aren't going to be happy, would you guys mind following kind of soon to help?" Ichika asked.

"Yes, of course. We'll be there directly." Cecilia said.

Ichika nodded his head and walked away.

OOO

Twenty minutes later, Cecilia and Nick had both showered and were changing into their school uniforms on opposite sides of the lockers in the changing room.

As he dressed, Nick thought somewhat about the time he'd spent so far at the IS academy. It was nine weeks to the day since he'd first arrived, and it was proving to be the happiest he'd been in years. The work was increasingly, mentally challenging, the practice matches were exhilarating, and where he'd only thought it before, he'd decided his friends in the academy were _the_ best friends he'd ever had.

Ichika was dense and clueless, but he was dependable and trustworthy. Charlotte was demure and somewhat shy, and one of the kindest people he'd ever known. Laura was thoroughly German, but she had a countering, gentle nature which was endearing. Houki could be arduous and demanding, but he'd seen she was also highly affectionate when she wanted to be. For reasons he wasn't entirely sure about, things with Houki were awkward from time to time, beyond that incident he'd had with her a few weeks earlier. Still, he enjoyed spending time with her. Rin was the most volatile and prone to violence girl he'd ever met, but he had the feeling her temper was just a mask to try to conceal her softer side.

Cecilia he was almost mesmerized by. She was the sweetest, most considerate girl he'd ever known. He'd seen her jealous side and her own anger, but he'd also seen how much she cared about and tried to care for the people around her. Nick had seen her be disheartened by the rest of the group's aversion to her cooking, but also how much she genuinely enjoyed doing things to help them. That is, things that didn't help any of them get a leg over her in their collective competition for Ichika, although, he was relatively sure she was developing stronger feelings for him as well.

All together, he actually liked all the girls in the group for different reasons. It was Cecilia he really wanted, but, he imagined he could probably be happy dating any one of them.

The only downside of his time at the academy was the looming presence of the shadowy organization Nick knew only as "Phantom Task." There had been no consequences to him or any of the rest of the group as a result of their clash with the motorcycle lackeys in the mall from the proper authorities, but Nick still had a sense of foreboding about it.

Ichika's sister, Chifuyu, had spoken with all of them individually about the events, although to Nick's mind, it had seemed closer to an interrogation than an interview. She had questioned each of them extensively, but had refused point blank to answer any of Nick's questions about it. By comparing notes with the others, he knew she hadn't answered any of them either.

His curiosity not satiated by Chifuyu's assurance that she and the school's forces would look into it, Nick took things upon himself. He'd made subtle inquiries to some of his extreme sports friends around the world, several of whom resided in low places of dubious legality. The responses he'd received hadn't proved very helpful, but not all of his friends had gotten back to him yet.

Nick didn't know exactly what, if anything, he could do about this obviously criminal organization once he learned something concrete about them, but he felt he had to do something. As much as bullets frightened him, and as much as he stubbornly tried to avoid thinking of them and reliving his past, the only thing more frightening for him than the idea of facing a bullet, was the idea of possibly losing someone to a bullet.

Nick then finished buttoning up his school uniform and stepped around to the other side. Cecilia had finished dressing as well. With her blonde hair running all the way down to her buttocks in its drill like spiral, she looked every bit as beautiful as she always did. He held out his arm for her to take, volunteering to escort her. Cecilia linked her arm through his with a smile.

"Hey, Cecilia." Nick said as they walked together a few minutes later.

Cecilia looked up at him. "Yes, Nick?"

"Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? Just the two of us, after everyone else has left the cafeteria."

Nick only then realized he'd just asked her for a date only after having said it. He hadn't meant to officially ask her out until he was more sure of any feelings she had for him, it'd just slipped out on an impulse. Although, he mused that maybe since it would be in the cafeteria, so thereby being nothing fancy, maybe she wouldn't consider it a date, or at least not completely a date.

Cecilia looked into his eyes as they continued to walk. There was a disquieting silence from her for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only a few seconds.

"Oh, well, um... alright, Nick. I'd love to." Cecilia said with a slight blush to her cheeks.

Nick felt like his heart skipped a beat. He had it. He had a real date with Cecilia.

"Okay, great!" Nick said, trying to keep the combination of jitters and enthusiasm out of his voice. "So, we'll meet in the cafeteria tonight at, say, ten?"

"Ten o'clock sounds perfect."

They then nodded to each other and continued on to the classroom in a comfortable silence.

OOO

Across town, in the middle of the city, in their skyscraper headquarters sat the leadership of Phantom Task. Madoka Orimura stepped off of the elevator onto the observation level of the building. The leader of the Phantom Task action unit, Squall Meusel, was lounging on her plush couch, looking out over the city. She was wearing the type of revealing, excessively cleavage bearing, evening gown she typically wore no matter what time of day it was. Madoka approached her.

"Squall. I have the report on Autumn and the others."

"Go on, tell it to me." Squall said in her most polite, serene voice.

"Autumn's plan for infiltrating the Academy and apprehending Target 1's IS is sound, though, I personally believe she is overestimating her chances against the target."

"Autumn has my full confidence." Squall said.

"Whatever you say." Madoka said back coldly. "Team B has made their plans as well. Based on a recent change in the known attractions at the IS Academy Anniversary Festival, they plan to ambush Target 2 before Target 2 reaches its known destination within the school and take its IS. Team B consists of myself, one other of our IS pilots and the three remaining men of our motorcycle squad."

"Good. Is there anything else?"

Madoka said, "I would like to request _again_ to be reassigned to go after Target 1 instead. You know I'll bring the target's IS back. Autumn may outmatch the target, but I can guarantee that they'll stand no chance against me."

Squall turned her head and smiled at Madoka. "M, I appreciate your eagerness, but there is a time and place for everything. I promise, when the time is right, you can get your revenge to your heart's content. Until then, do remember who's in charge around here."

Madoka said nothing in response to that. She merely glared harshly and intensely down at Squall. Without a word, she turned and walked back to the elevator.

OOO

In the classroom designated for the maid cafe at the academy, Houki, Laura, Ichika, Cecilia, Charlotte, and Nick were all working to set up the small restaurant for the following day. Rin was not with them, as she had to help her own class set up their project for the festival. Nick and Ichika were working together to move in all the tables and chairs while the girls were hanging ribbons, streamers, pictures, drawings and other decorations to create an ambiance. All of them were excused from classes for the day to set up their project.

"So, can you explain to me why the maid cafe is such a big thing in Japan? I mean, I get the whole French maid fetish, but is there anything beyond, you know, those feelings?" Nick asked Ichika quietly so the girls wouldn't hear.

Ichika responded at the same level of volume, "To be honest, not really." Ichika gave him a conspiratorial smile. "It's really just all about looking at some gorgeous girls in those costumes. I'm sure that's not just inherently a Japanese thing."

"Well, I have to admit, I will be coming around tomorrow to get a look at Charlotte and Houki in their maid costumes."

Nick and Ichika then each quietly snickered at the images of the girls in their minds. From seven feet away to the right, Laura turned from where she'd been hanging a German nick-knack of hers to look at them.

"Vhat are you two chortling about over zhere?" She asked them.

"Nothing, Laura." Nick said.

Nick and Ichika proceeded to place the chairs they'd assembled minutes before around the table they'd just carried in. As they worked, Ichika happened to indicate back over to Laura, and Nick laughed again.

"Are you two talking about me?!" Laura demanded to know. "Is there something on my face?! Are you making fun of me?! I command you to answer!"

"It's nothing like that, really. We're just talking about some guy stuff." Ichika said.

"First time that's ever been said in this school." Nick said.

Ichika laughed again and he and Nick bumped fists.

"Vhat is zhis so called 'guy stuff'?! I must know!" Laura almost shouted.

"Oh, Laura, leave them alone." Charlotte said. "It's good for the both of them to have someone they can say things to they might not feel comfortable saying to us, tu comprends?"

Houki then turned from her own decorating to look at all of them.

"And just what might the two of you not be comfortable saying to us?" Houki asked.

"There's just some stuff a guy can only say to another guy without getting in trouble." Nick said.

"Like what?" Houki insisted.

Ichika and Nick looked at each other and then back to Houki.

"Guy stuff." They said at the same time.

"Whatever." Houki grumbled and turned back to her task.

They guys chuckled again and finished placing the chairs around the table.

"One done, nine to go." Ichika said.

"This will take a while." Nick said.

He and Ichika then went to go get the next table from the supply truck outside. Before they left the room, Cecilia called over to them.

"Nick, could you please come give me a hand for a moment before you go?"

"Sure."

He walked over to her near one of the far corners of the room.

"I'm afraid I'm not quite tall enough to hang this picture where it's supposed to go. Could you help me?" Cecilia asked.

"No problem." Nick said.

Cecilia started to hand the framed picture over to him. Instead of taking it and hanging it himself, Nick took Cecilia by the waist and with only a slight effort, lifted her up so she could hang it. She gave a small gasp of surprise as her feet left the ground, but she recovered instantly and put the picture in its proper place. Nick put her down again and the two looked at each.

"My, Nick, you certainly are quite a strong man." Cecilia said.

"Nah. You just don't way anything at all." Nick responded.

Cecilia blushed a little bit at that and looked away.

"Thank you. That's quite a sweet thing for you to say."

Charlotte, Laura, and Houki were all watching this display intently. Thinking it all looked like great fun, Houki decided she wanted to experience it as well.

"Hey, Ichika."

Ichika stepped over to her from the doorway.

"I'm not tall enough either to put this up. Could you give me a hand?"

"Yeah, sure, Houki."

Ichika then took the glass, prism ornament from her hands and hung it on it's intended hook above their heads.

"There you go. All done." Ichika said.

She glowered up at him, her eyes turning steely and her face flushing with anger.

"Ichika..." Houki growled.

"What? Houki, what did I do?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all!" She shouted as she turned her back to him.

"Houki, come on. What's wrong?"

Houki did not answer him. She merely walked to the other side of the room and took a stack of table clothes out of a cardboard box. Nick walked over and patted Ichika's shoulder.

"I don't understand what just happened." Ichika said.

"I know, pal." Nick said. "Come on, let's go get the rest of the tables."

The two guys then left the room to continue their job.

"Stupid Ichika!" Houki thought to herself as she readied to make up all the tables. "All I wanted was just one little, romantic kind of moment with him and he's too dense to see it. That moment Nick and Cecilia just had looked so wonderful. I haven't had almost any moments like that with Ichika! Ah! If only Nick liked me instead of..."

Houki froze as she consciously realized what it was she was saying to herself.

"Am I... am I really wanting Nick to like me? Do I like Nick? But, as stupid and annoying as he is, I love Ichika. How could I like Nick?!"

OOO

In her office on a high floor of the main building, Chifuyu Orimura was enjoying a rare moment of quiet for her. After her morning classes, dealing with the petty problems of three different sets of girls under her dorm supervision, she'd then been called in to the dean's office.

The dean of the school, an utterly tiny Japanese woman named Hiyanoto Katsuratagi, was undoubtedly the most intolerable person Chifuyu had ever known. She was arrogant, antagonistic, condescending, constantly spoke to everyone as if they were a mentally challenged two year old, and, most galling of all to Chifuyu: Katsuratagi had never even set foot in an Infinite Stratos. The woman was a bureaucrat from the Japanese ministry of education, answering only to the head of the ministry. She considered the IS, at worst, to be a threat to national security waiting to happen, and, at best, a ridiculously overpowered toy.

Katsuratagi had called Chifuyu in to rant at her, again, about the enormous additional expenditures the school had experienced recently. Chifuyu was called in to hear that every time the school needed to rebuild a wall, replace a window, or fill in a crater. Katsuratagi seemed unable to realize that those occurrences were destined to happen at a school dedicated to teaching how to operate a weapons system as sophisticated as the IS.

She had sat there and listened to Katsuratagi ramble on before leaving without saying anything, just as she always did. Chifuyu's only consolation in the whole situationwais that the whole of the teaching and grounds staff considered her to be the _real_ head of the school. She was the one they came to with advice or problems, and she knew that she was the one they would listen to in an emergency.

Chifuyu had finished making herself a cup of tea and had just sat down to enjoy a few minutes of silence before her next class when a knock sounded on the other side of the office door.

"What?" She called out, her face scowling.

Maya Yamada opened the door and stepped into the office. She had a small tablet computer in her hands.

"I'm sorry to disturb your tea, Miss Orimura, but your intelligence division just came up with something, and I thought you'd want to see it."

Chifuyu's expression softened a degree and she gave a small smile.

"It's alright, Maya. You were right to bring it."

Chifuyu held out her hand and Maya walked to the desk and handed the tablet over. Chifuyu took a few minutes to thoroughly look over the contents on the screen.

"I don't like this." Chifuyu said.

"I know." Miss Yamada said.

"Did we independently verify this?"

Miss Yamada nodded. "With our allies at both American and German intelligence."

"So, chatter's out that Phantom Task is planning some kind of operation here in Japan tomorrow, but we have no idea when or where." Chifuyu said.

"There are at least eight other targets within the country they could attack to secure either advanced IS' or IS plans."

"But the most likely target is still here, and they've focused on us once already. Double security for the festival tomorrow and tell the instructors to be on standby with their IS'. I don't want anything to happen with all those people here." Chifuyu said.

Miss Yamada nodded and then bowed. "I'll have the instructions issued at once."

She turned and moved to leave the office.

"Maya." Chifuyu called out.

Maya turned back.

"I don't want a word of this getting to the students. Some of them are already asking too many questions about Phantom Task."

"You know I'll keep it in the strictest confidence." Maya said.

Chifuyu nodded to her and Maya then exited. Chifuyu scowled and looked into her mug of tea as she contemplated what could possibly happen on the coming day.

OOO

Up on the roof lawn of the one building of the academy, Charlotte, Laura, Rin, and Nick were all taking a break to eat their lunch. They'd all just arrived, but were already looking around for the missing members of the group.

"Where the heck are they?!" Rin demanded.

"Well, Cecilia told me she needed to take a call about her family's business back in England, so that accounts for her. Not sure about the others." Nick said.

"While you were out getting the last chairs, some of the girls came in and took Ichika away to retake his measurements. Apparently, the vest for his butler costume did not turn out quite right and they needed him to start a new one." Charlotte explained.

"Und I saw Houki leaving zhe room just a moment before you returned. She may be, as you Americans say, valking it off." Laura said.

Rin sighed. "Well, then I guess its just us for lunch today."

"Hey, how about a little positivity?" Nick asked. "This could actually be nice, in a different way. It's never just us. Hell, in all the time I've been here, I think this is the first we four have been together without Ichika, Houki, and Cecilia around."

"Maybe you're right. Could be nice to have a break from all the..." Rin cut herself off before she said anything which might reflect on the unspoken competition for Ichika.

"I believe zhere is no need for caution at zhis particular moment. I'm quite sure that Nick has figured all of it out by now. Ve can talk openly and frankly if ve vish to." Laura said.

"Yeah. To be honest. I saw it all at that dinner we had my first night here." Nick said.

"Really, you did?" Charlotte asked. "I had no idea. That was très observateur of you."

"Yeah, well, no offense to Ichika, cause he is a good friend. But, unlike him, I'm _not_ as dense as the base of a mountain."

With that crack, Laura, Rin, and Charlotte all burst out laughing and Nick joined in with them. They laughed together for several moments before it subsided and they all went into their lunch.

"Why don't we eat now? I made a scrumptious poulet a la Moutarde for Ichika, but we will enjoy it just as well." Charlotte said.

"I made **wienerschnitzel for my bride, as I vas taught in zhe military." Laura said.**

"And I got my famous sweet and sour pork." Rin said.

The girls started to unwrap and open the boxes they'd brought with him.

"Nick, what is in the box that you brought, s'il vu plaît?" Charlotte asked absently, without looking at him.

"Actually, I made something too." Nick said.

All three girls stopped what they were doing and looked over at him.

"You can cook?" Rin asked.

"Well, I'm nowhere near as good as all of you are, and I don't make much of a habit of it, but I can do it."

"But vhy did you bring us something you cooked?" Laura asked.

"Well, I was feeling a little homesick the other day, so I got the ingredients and made a small taste of home last night. And, this is sort of embarrassing, but, before I made it last night, I decided to save some of the supplies and make more for all of you. You girls are always cooking for us, although, I accept that it's nearly entirely to try make Ichika like each of you. I just thought that since I could, I should return the favor for once."

Rin, Laura, and Charlotte all looked at him with a mild confusion.

"What? Hasn't anybody ever done anything nice for you guys before?" Nick asked.

"No, it's not zhat." Laura said.

"We're just a little surprised is all. We weren't expecting you to do something so, er... thoughtful." Rin said.

"Yes, that is it. But, we will of course try the food you made for us." Charlotte said.

Nick thought to himself, "Ichika does so little for them in the way of gestures that they're genuinely surprised someone would. Seriously, why are they all so crazy about him?"

He then nodded and opened the box to reveal of a number of hamburgers on the inside.

"Okay, so, what we have here are five bacon cheeseburgers with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and hot sauce, guaranteed to give you a slight indigestion. I got the ingredients at the academy grocery store, so, in a way, these are kind of the UN of burgers. It's Japanese, Kobe beef, French vegetables, and Chinese hot sauce. You think about it, that kinda makes it even more American. And yeah, they are greasy and bad for you, but just remember how much you guys loved the pizza when you'd never had it before."

He pulled out the burgers, being careful not to get any grease on his uniform sleeve, and handed one to each of them.

"Thanks, Nick." Rin said.

"Merci beaucoup." Charlotte said.

"Zhank you." Laura said.

They all four then split up the food the girls had made and ate. Each of them gave moans of pleasure and nods of approval to the others as they ate. They finished eating relatively quickly, and, as they still had some time, they all laid out on the grass, relaxed, but still upright enough to look at each other and talk.

"So, Rin, how's class two's Chinese cafe coming?" Nick asked.

"Should bring in a good bit of money for the school. I've kinda soured on it, though. My classmates keep pestering me with questions, wanting everything to be as authentic as possible. There's hardly a single decoration in their that isn't mine or my family's. Right now, the only way it could be any more authentic is if we airlifted the whole room to Beijing." She responded.

All four of them laughed at that.

"So, Nikolaus, since ve are talking frankly, I vish to know. how is your pursuit of Cecilia progressing?" Laura asked.

Nick paused a beat at that. He was among his good friends, yet he'd never really considered actually discussing these kinds of things with him. He thought it must have been some kind of American common knowledge thing that guys don't talk about what they think of girls with other girls. Especially other girls who know the girl that's being discussed. On the other hand, he felt he could talk about this stuff to Ichika even less. Nick didn't know what Ichika's capability to keep something confidential was, and he didn't feel secure betting on it. On the whole, he figured since his interests and theirs aligned in a way, he could trust them to keep it to themselves. After all, there were more personal things, things he couldn't bring himself to talk about with anyone which they could be asking him.

"Actually, not too badly. In fact, Cecilia and I sorta have a date tonight."

Laura, Charlotte, and Rin all sat up straighter and looked at him intently.

"You and Cecilia have a date? This is fantastique!" Charlotte declared.

"Honestly, it's not gonna be that big a thing. We're not even going anywhere. We're just gonna have dinner in the cafeteria, just the two of us after everyone's left for the night." Nick said.

"That's where you're wrong!" Rin half-shouted. "This is a huge deal! If it goes well, you and Cecilia might become a couple and then we'd all have one less competitor!"

"Ja! She is right. You must take zhis seriously und strategize properly." Laura told him.

"For one thing, whatever you do, don't just where your uniform. Put on something nice!" Rin told him.

"Bear in mind zhat zhe Englanders are not as emotionally open as others, so do not be over enthusiastic." Laura advised.

"But, she will put in three times the work on her appearance that you do, so make sure you compliment her." Charlotte said.

"Maybe I should just put a radio in my ear and let you three tell me everything to say." Nick joked. "We better all be getting back now. Still got plenty more to do before the day's over."

The girls nodded, and they all picked up the remains of their lunch containers and started to head back. As they walked, Charlotte turned and looked up at Nick.

She said, "I am glad we did this. I feel we four have just become even closer friends, n'est-ce pas?"

"Agreed." Nick said with a smile.

OOO

At the same time as Nick, Laura, Charlotte, and Rin were having their lunch, Houki was walking no place in particular around the campus. She was deep in contemplation, thinking about herself, the other girls, and Ichika.

"What is with me?" She thought. "What are these feelings? Oh, maybe I'm just overthinking this. Maybe it's just natural to see other people being romantic and imagine myself in the scene. To imagine that I'm the girl the guy is being romantic to. I'm sure that must be it. I just need to try to make that happen, but with Ichika. I do love Ichika, after all. Despite all his flaws. At least, I think I do."

"Hey, Houki!" She heard from behind her back.

Turning around, Houki saw Ichika jogging up to her. She gave him a half smile and allowed him to catch up to her. Ichika stopped a few feet in front of her.

"Hey! I finally managed to escape the other girls. I'm ready to get back to work in the cafe. You need my help, so I'm there." He said.

Houki's smile became a little more genuine and lighthearted. If nothing else, Ichika never strayed from doing what he said he would. She liked that about him.

"Ah, the others are there and Nick can do any heavy lifting. I think we could take a short break." Houki said.

"Oh. Alright. So, what were you doing?"

"Nothing, really. Just walking. You, uh... want to... walk with me?"

Ichika looked confused. "I don't know why you're being so coy about it, but, sure."

Houki smiled widely. "Great!"

The two of them started to slowly walk together. For a short while, neither of them said anything. It felt to Houki like a strange middle ground between a comfortable and an uncomfortable silence.

"You're never going to get to have those moments with him if you don't try to make something happen. He's almost kissed you once, it shouldn't be too hard. Just say something. Be direct for once. But not too direct. I don't want him to know how I feel if he won't reciprocate." Houki told herself. "Ichika, can I ask you something?" She said out loud.

"What? Yeah, of course, Houki. You can ask me anything."

"It's just, you've been here in this school for over a year now and I've never seen you... do anything. Don't you ever think about... dating girls?" Houki's last words came out in almost a whisper.

Ichika gave a small gasp of surprise and sweat instantly broke on his forehead.

"Uh, well, yeah, sometimes." He said.

"Do you... do you ever think of one particular girl you might want to be with?"

"Uh... well..." Ichika became quiet, then, his expression became understanding after a moment. "Wait a minute, I know what this is about."

Houki blushed and her tone nervously went up an octave. "You do?!"

"Yeah! Course I do! You're my childhood friend and you care, so you're worried about my social development. To be honest, there are a couple of girls from class three I think are kind of cute, and then, maybe Charl." Ichika said.

Houki's expression instantaneously transformed from quietly apprehensive to absolutely enraged.

"Ichika, you idiot!"

She quickly grabbed the back of his neck, shoved his upper body forward and sent her knee up into his stomach. Ichika toppled onto his side, holding his lower torso and whimpering in pain.

"How are you so thick?! I swear, a flea would understand better than you do!"

Houki then stormed away at the height of her fury, leaving Ichika prone on the ground.

OOO

Later that night, Cecilia only had ninety minutes before she was supposed to meet Nick for their date, and she was beginning to panic a bit because she couldn't decide what she wanted to wear. Standing in nothing but her underwear, she'd already gone through half of all of her clothes. She was feeling very nervous, and she found this confusing.

"I don't understand why I'm so feeling so uneasy." She thought to herself. "I've known Nick for quite some time now. I find him to be one of the most mannerly, most considerate, most attractive gentlemen I've ever known. I want this. I want to go on this date, but I also still want my dear Ichika. I don't understand. Now stop that at once, Cecilia, you ninny! If you don't stop thinking that way you'll never settle on which dress to wear."

She began to rifle through her closet again, taking out different dresses and dismissing them out of hand.

"Too bland. Too flamboyant. Too timid. Oh! Far too raunchy for a first date!"

Cecilia stopped again upon saying the word "date" to herself.

"Why do I want to go on this date with Nick, anyway? Because he's quite charming. Because he is kind and sweet and funny and gentlemanly even when he doesn't know he is. Because he takes so much pleasure in the things he does, but also because of the things I believe he's keeping from all of us. Whatever it is that caused his fear of bullets, which is clearly what drives him to try to be the best. I want to know what that is, and help him if I possibly can. Oh! Listen to me. I sound just like a terrible romance novel. Still, it is true, though. I don't know if my feelings for my Ichika Dear are wavering, I just know that Nick seems to need help far more than Ichika does."

At that moment, one of Cecilia's jackets slid off its hanger and fell to the floor.

"Oh, bollocks." She groaned out loud.

She bent down to pick it up, but before she did, she noticed how it looked in tandem with one of her discarded dresses.

"Wait a tick. This jacket with this simple dress, it should be dressy, but without looking like I'm attempting to seduce him or lull him into anything. It's perfect!"

Having finally decided on her clothes, Cecilia placed them on her bed and then moved quickly into her bathroom to shower and begin her beauty regimen for the date.

OOO

Outside of the main dorm building, Ichika was returning to his and Nick's room. He was coming from his dinner. As Houki was still mad at him, he hadn't been able to find Nick, and none of the other girls of the group had been waiting for him at their usual booth, Ichika had had the rare experience for him of eating a meal all alone. Except, he hadn't been alone. Without all his friends surrounding him, nearly two dozen of his female classmates had attempted to join him. Ichika had spent thirty minutes repeating several polite variations of "please leave me alone."

As he walked back, Ichika thought what he really needed to wind down from his trying day was a bit of guy time and vicarious violence. He thought that if Nick were in their room when he got back, they could dive into either a video games or one of Nick's old action movie collection. Ichika thought that one of those one-man-army movies where a single guy shoots and blows up and conquers the bad guys all by himself would do the trick.

Ickika was about to round the final corner before coming to the main doors of the building when he suddenly heard a gunshot and a bit of concrete exploded on the ground in front of him.

"What the?!" Ichika yelled out loud.

Looking to his right, he saw Tatenashi step out of the shadows. She was somehow holding an IS assault rifle up with her regular arms, her unit not deployed. The barrel of the gun was smoking and Tatenashi had that teasing smile she always wore.

"Time for special, surprise training!" She declared.

"Tatenashi! Are you trying to kill me?! And what do you mean training?! We trained twice today!"

"Yes, but I think your reflexes are still way too slow. They really need to improve if you're ever going to get better. I'll be doing things like this every once in a while from now on to keep you on you toes. Now, dodge the bullets, don't you dare activate your Byakushiki, and don't worry about getting shot. The bullets are rubber, so they won't kill you. Although, if they hit a sensitive area, I suppose they could still blind you or make you infertile or something!"

Ickika gasped in fear and took off running just as Tatenashi fired a new round of rubber bullets at him.

OOO

Up in the cafeteria, Nick was waiting for Cecilia at ten o'clock, on the dot. He'd arrived just in time to have the whole room to himself, but still have the space of a few minutes to set up for the date. He'd dimmed the lights a few lumens from a hidden switch in the back of the kitchen, spread a white tablecloth over one of the tables for two, placed a candle in the center and lit it.

In his head, he thought about how he'd earlier decided not to do too much with the date, to try to keep it relatively casual, and then had done a complete one-eighty on that. No matter what, his default setting was to do everything possible, to take every situation to the furthest extreme he could. He didn't know if that attitude would be helpful or a hindrance in this situation, but it was who he was.

Nick had dressed fairly well for the date. He'd put on a pair of black, designer jeans, dress boots, and a slightly old and just starting to fade, red, button-up shirt which was still presentable. After combing his brown hair and making sure his breath was as minty as he could possibly make it, he'd thought he'd made himself as attractive as he would get. He was then sitting at the table, waiting.

Cecilia entered the cafeteria at one minute past ten. She looked every bit the elegant, refined woman of class that Nick knew her to be. She was wearing a plain, white dress which revealed only the barest hint of cleavage and started at the top of her breasts, running to a stop just a few inches past her thighs and had a blue ruffle poking out from the bottom. Over the dress she had on a black jacket with blue, cloth, rose blossoms positioned over the zipper on the lapels. She was wearing a pair of heels which added about five inches to her height.

Nick stood as she approached, glad he remembered that particular table manner.

"Wow, Cecilia, you look beautiful."

"Thank you, Nick. You look quite handsome yourself."

Nick stepped around the table and pulled out her chair for her. With a smile, Cecilia sat down and allowed him to push her in.

"What are we having for dinner?" Cecilia asked.

"It's something I made myself." Nick said.

He was slightly lying. He'd used the leftovers he'd taken with him from his lunch with Rin, Laura, and Charlotte and the remnants of one of Houki's bento boxes from their dorm room mini-fridge to make two new plates of food. With some reheating, soy sauce and creative arranging on the plates, they looked like a custom made meal. Nick took the plates from the next table, placed them in front of her and his own setting and removed the covers. The steam from the food wafted up, achieving the correct, grand revealing effect. He then took the bottle of sparkling grape juice he'd bought from the academy grocery store and poured them both a glassful.

"It looks delicious." Cecilia said.

"I hope you like it." Nick said. "And don't recognize the flavors." He thought in the back of his mind.

As Cecilia picked up her fork and dug a bit of food onto it, she asked, "So, what shall we talk about?"

Before Nick answered, she ate the bite from her fork and moaned with enjoyment.

"Oh, Nick! I didn't know that you were rather the chef. This is scrumptious." She said.

Nick gave a self-deprecating, dismissive wave of his hand in response to that.

"Actually, I'd like to know more about you. How did you end up being England's representative contender?" He asked.

"Well, it actually all started after my parents died." Cecilia said, frowning. "No, you don't want to hear this. It's far too bitter for this setting."

"No, please, go on." Nick said with genuine interest.

"Very well. It was almost two years ago at this point. My parents died in a train accident on their way from London to Liverpool, which was actually a bit odd, because they'd never spent any time in each other's company before then. After it happened, scores of relatives I'd never even heard of came out of the woodwork, all trying to get a piece of our family fortune. It was a hard time, but the sheer rudeness of these relations presuming entitlement on what my mother had worked to create galled me into action. I studied everything I possibly could which would help me to run the family business, but in the end, it was actually the IS which proved to be my salvation. After I took the IS aptitude exam, I'd achieved the highest score and compatibility rating of any other girl in England. The government then came to me with an offer. If I would become England's representative contender, they would have me declared legally an adult so that I could officially take control of the business and all other assets. I agreed, and then chose to come here to this school so I could become the best with my Blue Tears and make my country proud."

"Wow." Nick said. "That's a hell of a story, Cecilia. Significantly different from mine too. In my case, all that really happened was the news about me broke and then America basically ordered me to come over here and wave the flag. They worded it as a strong encouragement, of course, but still, I like the British way better."

Cecilia smiled at that. "However it happened, it allowed us to meet, and I'm glad for it."

"I'll toast to that."

The two of them raised their glasses and clinked them together.

"Now, I want to hear about you." Cecilia said. "How did you come to be the extreme sports fanatic you seem to be? You've told us all the stories of your motorcycle racing, stunt driving, halo jumping, volcano skiing. Why did you get into such dangerous sports?"

"That's kind of a long story." Nick said with melancholy in his voice.

"I told you my story. It's only fair for you to reciprocate."

"Look, Cecilia, I'll tell you anything else you want to know, all you have to do us ask, but that story, I just can't tell it." He said with grim earnestness.

Cecilia looked at him and knew she had another piece to his puzzle. Whatever had caused his fear of bullets had something to do with his extreme sports habit.

OOO

Outside the cafeteria, Laura, Charlotte, and Rin were all watching the progress of Nick and Cecilia's date intently.

"Stop pushing me!" Rin whisper yelled at Laura.

"Then get your hair out of my face!" Laura responded.

"Silencieuse!" Charlotte quietly barked at them. "We're supposed to be secretly making sure their date goes well, but that will be the opposite of what will happen if they find us watching them."

Laura and Rin then settled down and softly grunted their acquiescence.

"I must say, I'm surprised by how considerably far Nick has gone for zhis date." Laura whispered.

"I know. It looks all so magnifique." Charlotte said.

"Wonder if Ichika would ever go to that much trouble for one of us." Rin speculated out loud.

That silenced the other two girls, both now contemplating as well if their object of affection would do as much for them.

OOO

Forty-five minutes later, in her room, Houki wasn't doing much of anything. She hadn't left the room for hours. The cafe was finished, and there wasn't anything she really had to do until they opened it for the festival the following day, so she'd had plenty of time to think about the situation foremost on her mind: her relationship with Ichika and whether or not she had feelings for someone else.

Despite all the time she'd had to think, she hadn't come up with any answers. She still didn't know if she was actually developing feelings for Nick, or if it was just some kind of superficial transference because of how she'd seen him act towards Cecilia and how much stronger a pilot he was than Ichika.

Houki sat up on her bed, shaking her head to try to clear the confusion away, if only temporarily. Her stomach then growled, reminding her she'd never gone to dinner. Wanting to get out of her own head for a little bit, Houki decided she would go to the cafeteria for whatever food she could find at that late hour.

OOO

Meanwhile, Ichika was cowering behind the corner of a building, hiding from Tatenashi. He'd been dodging her bullets for close to an hour, and he was becoming severely tired. She had chased him nearly around the entire perimeter of the school. Ichika didn't know how many clips she had on her or where she was keeping them, but he thought she must have fired at least five-hundred bullets at him.

Despite his best efforts, which hadn't been too lacking, at least seventy-five of those five-hundred rubber bullets had found their target and hit him. His uniform was nearly in tatters from the bullets shredding through it. He was terribly aching all over. He thought that his body would look like he'd fallen into a nest of angry bees from all the bruises.

Ichika was trying to catch his breath, to recover enough strength to make a dash for the dorm building. He'd managed to temporarily lose Tatenashi and he thought that if he could make it back to his room, it would satisfy her and she would leave him alone for the rest of the night.

"Ichika!" Tatenashi called out to him.

He pushed himself against the wall of the building, trying to ensure his inconspicuousness.

"Ichika. I know you're somewhere near here. I will find you! And when I do, you're really gonna find it a _SCREAM!"_

Ichika gulped, readied himself, and made a break to start his shortcut through the park for the dorm building. Only a few seconds after he started running, Tatenashi happened to look in his direction and spotted him.

"Oh. There you are!" She cooed and took aim with her IS gun.

OOO

Their meal completed, Nick and Cecilia had cleaned up their plates in the kitchen and then decided to go for a walk in the night air. The two of them were strolling slowly along one of the paths of the academy park.

"Nice night." Nick said.

"Yes, it is. Would be nicer if we could see the stars, though." Cecilia responded.

"I know. I'm actually a born and raised city kid, but I climbed Mt. Everest last year, and on our way up, me and the guide that is, you wouldn't believe the stars we could see. I never knew there were so many. It felt like we were actually part of that vast cosmos."

"That sounds exquisitely romantic."

Cecilia shifted herself to be slightly closer to Nick and placed her hand near his. Nick took the opportunity and held her hand.

"I'd love to show you one day." Nick said.

"I think I'd enjoy that."

After a moment of walking, Nick suddenly stopped and pointed up at the sky.

"Look! There's a star peeking out. I think it's the North Star."

Cecilia followed his gaze, placing her head very close to his in the process.

"Ah! I see it!" She declared. "It's quite beautiful."

The two turned their heads and looked into each other's eyes.

"Yeah, it is." Nick said.

Cecilia closed her eyes and they started to lean in to kiss.

OOO

At the same time as the Cecilia and Nick were looking at the star, Charlotte, Rin, and Laura were hiding up in a tree, continuing to spy on them. The girls had moved to the tree after hearing Nick and Cecilia say they were going to go for a walk in the park. Laura had deduced which path they would likely take, according to proximity to the building and then Rin had found a tree they could climb to get the best possible view.

"It all still seems to be going vell." Laura whispered.

"Look at how close their heads are to each other. It looks nice." Charlotte said.

"Hey! Look! I think they're about to kiss!" Rin almost shouted.

She shimmied over from her own tree limb to the one Charlotte and Laura were sitting on. The branch creaked and moaned as her weight was added to it.

"Rin! Vait! I don't zhink it can take all of us!" Laura quietly yelled at her.

They all heard the limb begin to crack and sink down a fraction.

"Merde." Charlotte said with resignation.

The branch then broke and all three girls fell to the ground, yelling out from surprise.

OOO

Nick and Cecilia's lips were less than three inches away from each other's when the sound of surprised screaming broke the moment. They looked towards the direction of the sound, and, angrily curious, walked over to it. A row of obstructing bushes gradually receded from their vision, and the girls came into view.

"Charlotte, Laura, Rin! What are you doing here?! Have you been spying on us?!" Cecilia demanded.

Charlotte said, "Uh, no. Not at all, mon frer, we were just, uh..."

"Bird watching? Plane spotting? Star gazing? Signaling the mother-ship?" Nick asked, his voice soaked with venomous sarcasm.

"Uh, the first one, that's it." Rin said, lying badly as she got to her knees.

"You expect us to believe that the three of you were bird watching, up _in_ a tree, at night, at this particular spot at this particular time, purely by coincidence?" Cecilia asked.

"Uh, ja, ve vere looking for a Japanese night heron." Laura said.

"Girls, take my advice, never play poker." Nick said as they stepped through the bushes and stood around them.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked.

Cecilia, Laura, Rin, Nick, and Charlotte all looked to their right to see Houki approaching them. She had a look of perplexity on her face.

"Well, Nick and I were having a lovely evening together before these peepers decided to interrupt us." Cecilia said. "And just at the pivotal moment." She grumbled under her breath.

"You two were on a date?" Houki asked.

Nick nodded his head. "And we were enjoying it until all of you blundered in. I wonder how the night could possibly get any more ruined."

As if on cue, Ichika came running in towards them from the opposite direction with Tatenashi chasing close behind. Just as Ichika was getting close to the group, Tatenashi fired off a rubber bullet. It hit Ichika square in the middle of the back, causing him to fall forward, crashing into Nick. Nick then himself fell over, right into Charlotte. They ended up in a heap on the ground, Nick's head nestled between the French girl's breasts.

"Oops. Sorry, Nick, buddy." Ichika said.

"Um, Nick, if you wouldn't mind getting off me, please." Charlotte said.

Nick scrambled to his feet as quickly as he possibly could. He then offered his hand to help Charlotte up as well, but she stood on her own. Ichika did not get up from where he was on the ground, propping himself on an elbow to rest.

"Charlotte! What do you think you're doing?!" Cecilia exclaimed.

"Yeah! What was that about?!" Houki added.

"I did nothing!" Charlotte defended herself. "Nick fell on me. Because of her!" She pointed at Tatenashi.

"Just what do you think you're doing here making people..." Houki trailed off, blushing as she thought of the following words. "...causing problems?!"

"Well, I was just engaging in some honest, harmless training with Ichika." Tatenashi said.

"Harmless?! I'm covered in bruises! I think I'm bleeding in twenty places!" Ichika cried from the ground.

"No pain, no gain, sweetie!" Tatenashi said.

She then leaned in close to Houki's ear. "I'm surprised you're so much more interested in what happened to Williams then in Ichika's well-being."

"Well... that's... that's just because Nick is my friend, and besides, Ichika could use a bit of toughening up." Houki responded in a fluster.

Tatenashi just smiled and then moved a step closer to Nick and looked him in the eye.

"My my, first the English representative contender, then Miss Dunois, and now Miss Shinonono. You're quite the player, aren't you?"

"Sarashiki, shouldn't you be on a cliff, luring sailors to their death or something?" Nick asked back.

"Hey! That was a good one!" Tatenashi replied. She then looked at Ichika again. "Alright, Ichika, break's over. Let's continue!"

"Are you crazy?! Vould you look at him?! I'll be surprised if he can vork in our maid cafe tomorrow!" Laura declared.

"I'm his sole couch, and the student council president. It's my decision, and I say he keeps going."

"Oh, come on! He isn't even standing!" Rin shouted.

"Training is one thing, but you're running him ragged!" Charlotte said.

"Yeah! Let him rest!" Houki said.

"Your concern is noted, and sweet, but I still say he keeps going." Tatenashi said.

Nick then took unilateral action of the situation, both on behalf of his friend Ichika, and his immense dislike for Tatenashi. He initiated a partial deployment of Speed Demon, covering his right arm in the metal armor. He shot his arm forward at super-speed, grabbed the barrel of Tatenashi's gun, and used the neuro-muscular enhancers of his IS to crush the metal closed.

"Oh no. Looks like your equipment isn't in working order. You'll have to call it a night." Nick said in a mocking tone.

Ichika gave a loud gasp of relief and let himself flop from his elbows onto his back.

"Well, guess I can't argue with that. But, I promise you, this isn't the last you'll hear of it." Tatenashi said just before turning and walking away.

They all watched her go with a unanimous look of derision.

"Christ, I can't stand her." Nick thought out loud.

"I think you handled that fantastically." Cecilia told him.

"Someone really needs to take her down a peg. Do something about that damn superior attitude of hers." He said.

Down on the ground, Houki, Rin, Laura, and Charlotte were all kneeling down around Ichika.

"Ichika, how are you feeling?" Rin asked.

"Oh, kinda like Swiss cheese." He responded weakly.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Charlotte asked.

"If someone could drag me to my room, that'd be great. I'm not sure I can get there otherwise." Ichika said.

"If ve all take a limb, zhe four of us should probably be able to carry him vithout dragging him too much." Laura suggested.

"No, don't do that." Nick said, stepping close to them. "I'll carry him back to the room. I can do it fireman style and he won't drag at all."

"You sure you can pick him up?" Houki asked.

"He's what? Five-seven and about one-sixty? Shouldn't be a problem. Although, Cecilia, this does mean I won't be able to walk you back to your room."

"Oh, well, given the circumstances, that's quite alright. I'll see you tomorrow for our final practice before the shows start." Cecilia said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Nick said.

He then bent down, pulled Ichika across both his shoulders to spread the weight and stood up with him.

"If he's in real pain in the morning, I'll take him to the infirmary, but I think he'll be okay." Nick said to all the girls in general and then started to walk off with his roommate.

"Thanks for this, Nick. You're a good friend." Ichika groaned out.

"Yeah, I know. I hate myself for it."

OOO

On the roof of a distant building, Madoka Orimura glowered down at all of them. The whole scene had done nothing but anger her, and confirm her suspicions about Ichika's feebleness.

"The life I've had, everything I've been through, all because of that worthless, useless, waste of space!" She thought. "Him, and Chifuyu. Tomorrow, I'm going to kill them, and nothing will get in my way!"

OOO

From the computer in her private room, Chifuyu had also watched the younger people's scene unfold through the campus security cameras. She'd had Maya plant a program inside the academy security system to keep track of all of them, just in case Phantom Task decided to move up their time table. She'd received am alert from the system when it detected a gun in proximity to them. Chifuyu had just been about to rush out to help them when she'd seen what was really happening.

She'd watched the whole interaction with simultaneous exasperation and amusement with everything. As the scene concluded, she was shaking her head with a big smile on her face.

"Those idiots never learn."

Chifuyu powered down the computer and continued to mentally plot out the countermeasures she planned to deploy against Phantom Task the next day.

OOO

Across town at their skyscraper headquarters, Squall had also watched everything that had happened through the nanobots which observed all of Madoka's actions, movements, and senses. Madoka's excursion to the academy had been a wholly unauthorized one, but Squall thought it to actually be quite fortuitous and informative.

It had given her a previously unavailable glimpse into the character of their targets. What she saw the most was that the seven of them seemed to possibly be quite an effective team. They looked very unified.

Squall decided then that their best approach for acquiring the IS' would be to divide and conquer. They'd have to get the targets on their own to take them down with the smallest amount of difficulty.

She then tapped a button on her computer, sending a sound only transmission to Madoka.

"M. Come on back. We need to go over our plans for tomorrow again."

OOO

Across the pacific ocean at the same time in Los Angeles, a break-in had been attempted at Williams IS Production, the company owned and run by Nick Williams uncle, Tyler Williams. The ventured burglary was nothing new to them. Being the largest IS corporation in the US and second in the whole world, the company had to be constantly vigilant against both corporate espionage and individuals looking to steal their designs.

This robbery had been different, though. The thieves had somehow managed to bypass all security and make their down into the fourth sub-basement of the facility, where all the most experimental designs and prototypes were housed. Their fatal mistake was a result of their lack of information on all the security measures. Unknown to them, a new and highly sensitive vibration sensor had been installed in the floor outside of the lab. Their first steps on the floor had triggered the alarm and all on-sight, IS security units had been deployed to intercept them.

The thieves had put up quite a fight, using IS type weapons to try to fight the guards, but had been quickly apprehended and taken away to jail.

During the course of the fight, one of the intruders had happened to lose their wrist computer, and following instructions, the guards had taken it to Tyler Williams himself instead of handing it over to the police. To do something like this had been a standing order within the company for six of its seven years. Tyler Williams insisted on a lead being recovered so that he could personally investigate every break-in, and compensated his people generously for the felony they were committing in the process.

Hacking into the robber's wrist computer, Williams found the one thing he was always looking for, and the one thing he never wanted to find. The lines of code within the security encryption were unmistakably the kind used by Phantom Task. They were coming again.

OOO

The next day at the IS Academy, it was five minutes past eleven o'clock in the morning. Nick was in his and Ichika's room, getting ready to head out to meet Cecilia for their first exhibition match of the day. A combination of sleeping late and an initial lack of energy had made it so that he was almost going to be late meeting her, something he really didn't want to be.

About a minute before he was going to leave, Nick's computer on his side of the wide, dual person work desk started to ping with an alert. Looking at the screen, Nick saw that someone wanted to initiate a secure transmission video call with him. He could see the caller's ID as the initials "S.T."

Nick smiled to himself. It was Sergei Tarasov, one of his worldwide extreme sports friends. Sergei was one of the friends that Nick had sent messages out to for information on Phantom Task. He had met Sergei a year earlier at a ski resort outside of Moscow. The two had met at the top of the most difficult, dangerous run the resort had to offer, raced to the bottom, and become instant friends after crashing together. They'd then been inseparable for Nick's three week stay in Russia and had had a blast together. Especially considering there was one week out of those three that Nick couldn't remember at all. They hadn't actually met since that time, but had stayed in close contact.

As much as he himself was not part of the business, Sergei was the son of the head of the biggest gruppirovka, mafia family, in all Moscow. That put him in a premium position to ferret out certain types of knowledge.

Although it would certainly make him late for meeting Cecilia, Sergei was the last of his friends to get back to him, and Nick had to know if he could shed any light on the shadowy foes threatening himself and his friends. Nick clicked the button to accept the call, and the dirty blonde haired, brown eyed, semi-handsome dog face of Sergei Tarasov alighted the screen.

"Sergey, kak ty moskovskaya mraz'?" Nick asked genially in Russian. "Sergei, how are you, you Moscow filth?"

Sergei laughed heartily at the greeting. "Nikolai! My friend, it's been too long! Russia misses you!"

"And I miss those Russian clubs we shouldn't have been able to get into." Nick said.

"Ha ha! You haven't changed at all!"

"So, Sergei, did you get any of the things I asked for out of your father?" Nick asked.

"I must admit Nikolai, the information you wanted was not easy to get. Or I should say, it would have been harder if my father did not hold so many favors and know where so many bodies are buried. You should know, he might want something in return for this in the future."

"Not an appealing proposition, but I reached out knowing that might be the case. What did he find out?"

"Well, these people don't call themselves 'Phantom Task' simply for effect, almost nobody knows anything about them. They are definitely an independent organization with no ties to any government or corporation." Sergei said.

"What are they after?" Nick asked.

"Infinite Stratos. That seems to be all they're interested in. Rumor says they've stolen the most advanced IS suits or designs from every country and company on the planet. Although, they say they've never been able to smuggle anything out of your uncle's company."

"That's interesting." Nick said. "Any idea on why they're so keen on IS?"

"None. Nobody knows why they want them. They've never sold any of these suits or designs, so they aren't interested in money, and they've never released these plans on the web, so it isn't some hacker thing either." Sergei said.

"That would leave taking them for personal use."

"That would be my guess. Rumor has it that they've got people of all types all over the world in different places, but that the higher-ups are all women, all IS pilots."

"You sure this isn't a black market business? I know I just said it, but taking IS suits for personal use doesn't make much sense. Unless they're planning to wage they're own private war or something." Nick said.

"I couldn't say. The one thing all my father's contacts were sure of was they've never done business with this group. Although, he told me there was some muttering from his contacts that they may be planning to do some selling in the future. Nothing concrete on that, just a feeling some of his associates had. Then, and I don't even know why I'm telling you this part, my father says there are some nuts out there who think these guys are some kind of cult. They say Phantom Task think the IS is some kind of stepping stone to people becoming immortal robots or something. But, that's pure der'mo if you ask me."

Nick chuckled at that. "Thanks, Sergei. I owe you one and it was good to hear from you."

"Nikolai, before you go, there is something else I must tell you." Sergei said. "You need to be very careful about these guys. They're dangerous."

"No der'mo?" Nick asked back jokingly.

"I'm serious, my friend. One of the only things that _is_ solidly known about them is that they regularly murder anyone who gets in their way. Sometimes, it seems to be their first resort instead of their last. They've been credited for snipings, stabbings, explosions and supposed accidents all over the world. There's a story that just one of them recently stole an IS from the Brits and killed about fifteen IS guards in the process. This is no game to them, Nikolai. They want Infinite Stratos, and from what your emails have told me, your Speed Demon suit is one of the most out there of all of them." Sergei said.

"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. Do svidaniya, Sergei."

Sergei smiled. "Do svidaniya, Nikolai. And send me some pictures of that school of yours and those girls you told me about. I believe you are living in the promised land."

Nick chuckled again and shut the call down. Looking at the clock in the bottom-right corner of the screen, he saw that he was now five minutes late for meeting Cecilia, increased to fifteen minutes by the time he'd be able to get to the arena locker room. Knowing he had consigned himself to being late still didn't lessen the sudden impulse of contempt he felt for himself. Nick jumped from the desk chair and rushed out of the room.

OOO

At the maid cafe, business was booming. Laura, Charlotte, and Houki were all practically running ragged to keep up with everything. Between Cecilia not being there and Ichika away on a half-hour break, they almost didn't have enough hands to keep up with everything.

"Hello, everybody!" They heard a voice sound from the doorway.

Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at the door, but Charlotte, Houki, and Laura had all recognized the voice, groaning inwardly at it. They then also turned and saw Tatenashi standing in the doorway, wearing an identical maid's costume to their own. Standing just behind Tatenashi, in a red, Chinese style dress, was Rin. The girls all approached the student council president.

"What do you want?" Houki asked bluntly.

"Now is that the kind of appreciation I get for coming here to volunteer my time and energy to help all of you?" Tatenashi asked back.

"I doubt any of us believes you are not here vith your own ulterior motives." Laura said.

"And Rin, why are you back here again? Shouldn't you be at class two's Chinese cafe?" Charlotte asked.

"Miss high and mighty here came in and basically ordered me to come over here with her for some kind of announcement." Rin explained.

"Alright, so it's true, I'm not here to be a waitress. The student council is putting on a very special interactive play for the students and guests, and I want all of you to come and be in it." Tatenashi said.

"Why would we do any ridicule favors for you?" Charlotte asked.

"Do you really think I wouldn't have any inducements for you? I plan to make Ichika come and be part of it too, playing the prince."

"So vhat? Ve could just as easily stay here and see him just as much." Laura said.

"Huh. You don't understand." Tatenashi said. "Here it is plainly. I see how all of you act around our school's biggest minority. Whomsoever can capture the crown worn by the prince during the play, well, I'll make sure that girl gets to be roommates with a certain male pilot."

All four girls gave a small, audible gasp at that.

"But, can you even do that? I mean, he already lives with Nick." Houki asked.

"With my connections as student council president, I'll make it happen. So, who's in?"

OOO

Outside arena number four, Cecilia was waiting at one of the service entrances for Nick. She'd been waiting there for him for nearly a quarter of an hour. She was surprised by his tardiness. In all the time Cecilia had known Nick so far, she'd seen that he was usually very punctual.

She was partly concerned and partly irritated by it. Concerned because she thought it might mean there was something either holding him up or wrong with him, and irritated because he had talked her into these exhibition matches. It was their job to put on a show for the guests and students, and he wasn't there. From inside the arena, Cecilia could just hear the feint beginnings of restlessness within the assembled audience.

Just as she considered calling him over the IS communicators, the booming blast and dust plume of a distant explosion captured her attention. Having the premonition that this was no coincidence, Cecilia activated her Blue Tears and flew towards the danger zone.

OOO

Three minutes before the explosion, Nick had been running for the arena at a fast jog. He'd just made the second to last turn before the final, straight shot to the stadium when he'd been forced to a sudden stop. Directly in his path were three men straddling motorcycles and dressed the same as the goons who had ambushed he and Cecilia before. But, more than that, standing in front of the men, were two women in IS suits. One was in a white suit which looked vaguely reminiscent of Cecilia's unit, and the other was wearing one that gave the impression of something reptilian. Both of their faces were hidden by helmets. Nick stopped dead, immediately understanding the situation. He stood twenty feet away from them.

"Phantom Task?" He asked in a casual, almost uninterested tone.

None of the five people answered. Nick hadn't expected them to.

"No dampening field this time, obviously. Don't think you can take me without the IS?" Nick asked them.

The three motorcycle riders started their bikes, crossed the short distance to Nick's position and surrounded him in a loose triangle. Each of them pulled a semi-automatic handgun from holsters on the sides of their bikes and aimed them at him.

Nick shot his eyes down to the ground and fought with all the mental force he could for the memories to not come back. It didn't work, just as it never did whenever he saw a bullet firing gun. The memories flooded through his mind, and it was all he could do to keep his hands from shaking and lashing out at them that very moment.

The woman in the white suit, which had butterfly shaped wings strapped to the back, took a step closer to him.

"Give us your IS, and we won't kill you. That's your only option." She said forcefully.

Nick said nothing. For a long several moments, Nick and the two women stared each other down. The one in the reptilian IS subtly started to raise her left arm. The tipping point came in the next second.

Nick shouted, "Speed Demon!"

The pilot of the reptilian suit lifted her left arm all the way, materialized a weapon and fired off a shot at Nick. It exploded on impact, the sound of the detonation and the dust from the ground obscuring the scene. It began to clear, and the members of Phantom Task saw that their initial attack had failed. Nick was standing on a force-field almost thirty feet over their heads. Speed Demon had deployed in time and he'd just managed to dodge the assault.

"Nice try." He said down to them.

The men all started to fire their guns up at him, but were only able to each get a couple shots off before Cecilia came flying in and hit them with her laser, tear drones.

"Nick, do you require any assistance?" She asked.

"Think I'm alright, but you're welcome to stay." He replied flirtatiously.

"Always such a gentleman." Cecilia said with a smile and a slight giggle.

"Do you think this is a game?!" The woman in the white IS yelled.

She then flew up, streaking past both of them with a huge trail of wind from her instant acceleration causing both Cecilia and Nick to be rocked. Nick fell off his platform, but quickly recovered and made another under his feet.

Seeing the other woman for the first time, Cecilia gasped. "But that's Silent Zephyrs! That IS should be under lock and key in England!"

Silent Zephyrs' pilot scowled. Six independent drones, identical to the type Cecilia used then detached from her suit and immediately began to fire at Cecilia. Cecilia swerved and dodged the many laser blasts aimed for her. She also began to order her own drones to shoot back at Silent Zephyrs and it's drones. While still dodging, Cecilia used her own laser rifle to fire at her opponent. The laser grazed Silent Zephyrs' shield, and threw the other pilot off a touch, but not greatly.

Nick had his own battle going as well. The woman in the reptilian IS had quickly followed her partner's lead and dived into battle. She had flown up level with Nick and shown the secondary weapon to coincide with her energy cannon. It was a laser dagger, guaranteed to increase the danger of Nick's close combat fighting style. Nevertheless, he went for it.

Nick ran right at her at his super-speed. He dodged the woman's explosive shots from her cannon, quickly stepping into her close proximity. The woman swung her dagger sideways at him, but Nick skirted under her, sticking his legs at a downward angle and sliding beneath her on his force-field platform. From behind her, Nick threw a super-strong side-kick into her shield. The woman was thrown many feet away, but then turned back and fired her cannon at him. The energy orb hit and exploded against his suit's own shield. The subsequent concussive burst wiped out over a hundred of his his six-hundred shield energy points.

Cecilia turned to see what happened, but it cost her. The momentary distraction caused two of Silent Zephyrs' drones to nail her with their lasers. The pilot of Silent Zephyrs then came in with her suit's rifle and aimed to shoot Cecilia at point blank range. Cecilia countered by knocking the rifle away with the barrel of her own and then punched the other pilot in the head. She then shot the Silent Zephyrs pilot in the shield, but the Silent Zephyrs pilot did the same thing, and her shot was much more powerful. Cecilia was thrown several lengths away in the same general direction as Nick. The two ended up roughly side by side.

"Cecilia, I've got an idea. Stay clear enough, and when I say so, launch your missiles at me." Nick said.

"What?! At _you_?!"

"Trust me." He said confidently.

Cecilia hesitated a second, then nodded and flew back towards her enemy. Nick made another charge at the woman in the reptilian IS. Cecilia and the Silent Zephyrs pilot did a complex and intricate dance of flying, dodging, controlling their drones, and simultaneously firing their rifles at each other. Each produced the same amount of hits and misses. At the same time, Nick performed multiple leaps and dodges, executing a plethora of acrobatic rolls and leaps in midair to strike the reptilian IS' shield quickly and to keep moving.

"Cecilia, now!" Nick shouted to her over the communicator.

She nodded to herself, broke into clear, open sky, extended her missile tubes, locked onto Nick, and fired. The rockets shot forth and flew straight for him. At the last possible moment before the missiles would have impacted and detonated, Nick slapped the first missile so that it veered off towards the reptilian IS and then grabbed the second missile and threw it at her as well. Both missiles exploded against the shield of the reptilian IS. A fast, successive laser-kick then prevailed in wiping out the woman's shield energy and making her unit forcibly send her back to the ground. It deactivated and retracted once there was earth under her feet.

One enemy defeated, Nick jumped upwards to Cecilia's side so they could double-team the Silent Zephyrs pilot.

"It seems the tables have quite turned." Cecilia said to the other woman. "Now _you're_ the one who's outnumbered."

Silent Zephyrs' pilot smiled diabolically.

OOO

Inside the closed arena which had been converted into an auditorium for the student council interactive play, Ichika was having a harried time of his own. He hadn't known what to expect when Tatenashi had made him come be the prince in the play, but he was already regretting it. What he'd found in the play was that Charlotte, Houki, Laura, and Rin were all attacking both him and each other, trying to get the crown off his head. Whether it was because it was the goal of the play or for some other, personal reason, he had no idea, and he didn't really care. He just wanted it to be over.

Ichika was running across the fake lawn in front of the fake castle when Rin suddenly jumped out in front of him from he didn't know where. She had a Chinese sword in her right hand, sharpened to a dangerously deadly degree.

"Ichika, just hold still so I can get the stinkin' crown and you won't get hurt." She told him.

Charlotte then appeared at his six o'clock position with a telescopic baton in each hand.

"No one will have the prize of the crown but moi!" She proclaimed.

The two girls rushed at each other. Ichika dove out of the way to the side just before they would have collided with him. He watched from the ground as they fiercely dueled each other, blocking and parrying each other's blows. Rin slashed at the skirt of Charlotte's princess dress. Charlotte hit Rin hard in the shoulder with a baton. It almost looked to Ichika like they were really trying to hurt each other.

He got up and turned to run again, but before his first step, a hunting knife brushed past his arm, tearing his sleeve and drawing a small amount of blood. It had been thrown by Laura. She was oncoming fast with Houki following closely behind.

"Give me zhe crown!" Laura shouted.

Laura reached out to grab Ichika, but before she could grasp him, Houki came up on her side and hit Laura in the face with the hilt of her katana. Laura fell and Houki then did a sweep-kick to put Ichika on his back. She pointed the tip of her blade at his face.

"Just hold it, Ichika!" She instructed him.

Houki reached down to take the crown. Half an inch away from taking hold of it, a crashing, breaking sound seized Houki's and everyone else's attention. Nick crashed down hard into the floor in the rough center of all his friends. A stream of light poured in from the hole in the ceiling where he'd passed through it. Silent Zephyrs and Cecilia then barreled through the ceiling as well, locked in a hand grappling.

Nick climbed to his feet and looked at Ichika and the other girls.

"Hey, guys. Feel free to join the party." He said with a pant before jumping back into the air.

Chifuyu's voice then came over an intercom loudspeaker in the arena. "This is an emergency situation! All students and guests, clear the arena now! All those with personal IS units are ordered to defend the leaving people and contain the situation as best as possible until instructors arrive!"

All the kids sprang into action right then.

"Schwarzer Regen!"

"Akatsubaki!"

"ShenLong!"

"Rafale-Revive!"

"Byakushiki!"

Their IS deployed, all five joined the fracas. In the air, the seven kids surrounded the pilot of Silent Zephyrs.

"You should give up now!" Laura exclaimed.

"There's no way you can take all of us!" Rin said.

"We won't let you hurt anyone here!" Ichika said.

"You're in a hopeless situation." Houki said.

"Except, I'm not really alone here." The pilot of Silent Zephyrs said.

A burst of machine gun fire then nailed Charlotte in the back. All seven of the kids turned around to look and saw another IS pilot in a suit built like a spider. This new combatant flew up to join in.

"Hello all you little brats! Who's ready to die?!"

Ichika then spoke to everyone over the communication system. "Okay, everyone, this isn't a big deal. We still outnumber them almost four-to-one."

"Here's what I suggest we do." Nick broadcasted. "Don't know about the spider one, but it looks like a close combat unit, while the other is definitely more long distance. I think it should be Houki, Ichika, and Rin against the spider pilot while Cecilia, Charlotte, Laura and I deal with Silent Zephyrs."

"Oui, that sounds like a good plan." Charlotte said.

"I'm in." Rin said.

"Let's get 'em!" Houki declared.

They all broke formation and plunged into battle. Rin and Houki laid down a layer of cover fire with their long-range weapons against the spider IS while Ichika charged her with his Yukihira sword. The woman evaded the blasts from the girls and used one of the bladed legs of her suit to block Ichika's sword. She then extended a spike from her right arm and stabbed it into Ichika's shield. Ichika was pushed back forty feet, and the woman moved to press her attack on him, but was hit with Rin's Dragon Cannon.

The other four were also keeping Silent Zephyrs busy. Charlotte was shooting her two sub-machine guns. Cecilia was sending her four drones after the pilot. Laura had her bladed, wire cables snaking out for the pilot. Nick was running after her to punch her. Silent Zephyrs' pilot was dodging and weaving to avoid all of their attacks while simultaneously having her own six laser drones fire at her opponents.

One of Laura's cables grabbed onto the pilot's left arm and gripped her tightly. Laura used the cable to whip her out of her flight path and send her colliding into the distant wall. Cecilia and Charlotte then concentrated their fire on where the pilot had been buried.

"Nick, finish her while we have her pinned down!" Cecilia commanded.

Nick ran back to acquire the distance he needed, turned to face his target, and bolted forward. He reached his top speed, broke the sound barrier, and aimed his super-sonic punch. Silent Zephyrs' pilot then used a kind of outwardly expanding, concussing pulse to break out of her hole. She got out of the way in time and Nick crashed straight out through the wall.

The pilot of the spider IS dodged a charge by Houki and then fired an energy net that caught and ensnared her. Houki was able to keep from falling out of the air, but was otherwise momentarily immobilized. Rin flew at the spider IS with one of her huge, ax-swords. The pilot tried to block, but Rin's weapon was so heavy that it knocked her downward towards the ground regardless.

"Gah! Stinking brats!" She cried.

Ichika then came in again with his own sword and hacked and slashed at her, landing several decent blows. The woman roared with anger, lifted the tail, abdomen section of her suit and blasted Ichika with a huge laser.

"I'll get that IS if I have to peel it off your dead body!" The woman screamed.

She then materialized a machine gun and fired it right at Ichika. Ichika took a few hits from it before veering off, flying out of the line of fire. Rin charged at the spider IS again, but the pilot evaded her attack and chased after Ichika. Rin chased after her.

At the same time as Houki managed to cut the net and free herself, Nick came back in through one of the holes in the wall.

Cecilia rushed Silent Zephyrs and got her at point blank range with her laser rifle. The pilot was dazed for only half a second, but it was enough for Laura to nail her with her massive, shoulder mounted railgun. Charlotte then got into the group's stride, coming in close and hitting the woman with a volley of bullets from her sub-machine guns, flipping over top of the woman, grasping her head head for balance.

Charlotte's action happened to pull the woman's helmet off, revealing her face. It was an identical face to Ichika's sister, Chifuyu. Despite the two separate battles, everyone present somehow managed to see it, and all of them were taken aback by it.

"What?! Chifuyu?!" Ichika gasped.

The spider IS pilot then hammered Ichika with her shield spike weapon again, hitting him a treacherous blow.

"Zhat is not mentor!" Laura spouted.

"Laura's right! It can't be! Keep your head in the fight!" Rin told Ichika.

The pilot who looked like Chifuyu evaded another rendezvous with Laura's railgun and put a sizable difference between herself and all the others. She then did something she hadn't done yet. All six of her laser drones merged around the barrel of her rifle and she began to charge what looked to be a colossally damaging explosion of energy.

At the same time, the pilot of the spider IS had blasted Rin to the ground with her own railgun. She'd then grabbed both Houki and Ichika by the throats.

"Now I'll really get you!" She yelled with sadistic glee.

She slashed back and forth across their shields with her suit's bladed, spider legs.

In the same second, seeing the state that Ichika and Houki were in, and taking a guess as to what was about to happen from Silent Zephyrs' laser rifle, Nick improvised something. He sped to a position where he had a direct line threading straight between all of them. Accelerating hard, Nick timed it just right so that all eight of the others were caught in the wake of his sonic boom, freeing his friends and disorientating their enemies.

After his move was completed, Nick went down to one knee on his force-field platform, breathing hard. He'd never done two consecutive super-sonic accelerations before and he was feeling greatly fatigued by it. Ichika flew up next to him.

"Nick! Are you alright?!" Ichika shouted at him, his hearing having been affected by the boom.

Nick thought that that would have happened, although he knew none of them would have been defended thank to their IS'.

"Yeah... I think... I'm good." He panted out.

Looking across the arena, the boys saw their enemies starting to recover. The two Phantom Task pilots were slowly doing the midair, levitating equivalent of climbing to their feet. They were glaring at Nick and Ichika with absolute fury.

"Ichika Orimura, I will have my revenge on you!" The woman who looked like Chifuyu yelled.

"You damned punks! I'm gonna rip your throats out for that one!" The other woman shouted.

Looking around, Ichika and Nick saw that their own girls were recovering from the dazing effects of the sonic boom at a slower pace. Their enemies progress was slow as well, it was clear they would beat the girls to the punch. The woman who looked like Chifuyu was already starting to raise her rifle and charge another shot.

"Ichika, you got a Reiraku Byakuya left in you?" Nick asked.

"No. My shield energy's just under the minimum level required for one." Ichika said at a slightly more normal level of volume.

"Your unit able to transfer power from one system to another?"

"I've never done that, but I read that I can. I think I remember how to do it."

"Okay... I got... an idea. Cut your propulsion, transfer to the shields, then get ready to do the Reiraku Byakuya." Nick told him.

"But how am I gonna get over to 'em?"

"We're gonna do like last night, after Tatenashi."

"Huh? Oh, I get it! Alright, let's do it." Ichika said.

He stood behind Nick on his platform and performed the procedure to dump the energy from his flight system into his shields. In the fifteen seconds it took Ichika to do this, Nick was mentally preparing himself. There were problems with this plan he hadn't told Ichika. For one, from gauging the distance to their targets, Nick judged the only way he and Ichika could reach them in time was another sonic boom drive. The problem was that his own shield energy had been drastically depleted from the two previous booms. He didn't actually have enough left to achieve a third one. They might be able to get up to speed, but the safety protocols would forcibly deactivate his suit before they could reach the Phantom Task pilots.

"Be real nice if those damn safety protocols turned off. Ah, hell with it. We might make it, and it's better than the alternative. It'll be a nice adrenaline rush either way!" Nick thought. He then said out loud, "Ready Ichika?!"

"Yeah, I'm ready!"

Nick cupped his hands behind himself, and Ichika stepped into them, climbing onto his back.

"Don't miss, we've got one shot at this!" Nick said.

"Not this time." Ichika said confidently.

Nick moved his feet and started to run, Speed Demon's micro-jets swiftly pushing he and Ichika to their target velocity. He had a fleeting thought about how his suit hadn't shut down, but it was in the back of his mind and didn't truly register. Ichika and he passed through the sonic boom and reached their opponents.

"Reiraku Byakuya!" Ichika shouted, slashing through the shields of both women.

Both of their shields collapsed. Their IS' would allow them to fight no further. Nick decelerated himself and Ichika back to stillness and they looked back at their handiwork. The Phantom Task pilots were both fuming with rage as they were flying out of the arena.

"This isn't over you damn kids!" The pilot of the spider IS shouted.

"I'll be back for you, Orimura." The woman who looked like Chifuyu said.

They flew out at their top speeds. The girls had by then recovered and gathered around the guys.

"Congratulations you two! That was a marvelous display of teamwork." Cecilia said.

"Oui, you were merveilleuse!" Charlotte said.

"Ja, you were most impressive." Laura said.

"That's actually the best I've seen you do yet, Ichika." Houki said.

"No kidding. I kind of want to do the sonic boom with you now, Nick." Rin said.

"Ah, guys, come on! Stop it!" Ichika beamed with embarrassment.

"Yeah... thanks... everybo-"

Nick didn't finish his sentence. He collapsed forwards, unconscious. The force-field platform created by Speed Demon vanished and he and Ichika were then both hurtling towards the ground.

"Ichika! Nick!" The girls all yelled together.

Collectively, they dived to intercept the men. Laura and Rin caught Ichika by the arms of Byakushiki. Cecilia was plunging for Nick as rapidly as she could, but with Akatsubaki's greater speed, it was Houki who reached him first. She caught him just above the ground, wrapping him into a hug and rolling so that her back took the brunt of the impact.

"Nick? Are you alright?" She asked him.

It was no use. He was completely out. Houki set him gently down on the ground as the other girls and Ichika all landed, deactivated their units and rushed over to him.

"Nick!" Cecilia yelled with fierce worry. She flung herself to her knees down by his side. "How is he?"

"I, I don't know. He doesn't look injured, and he seems to be breathing, but passing out like that can't be good." Houki said.

A moment later, the school instructors finally arrived in their IS', followed by a team of medical personnel and Chifuyu and Maya Yamada.

"Please, help him! Something's wrong!" Cecilia yelled at them.

"Get him to the infirmary. Lock down the arena. Recover the security footage. I want to know everything that went on in here! Maya, have Williams' IS analyzed, make sure there's nothing wrong with it." Ordered Chifuyu.

"Yes, Miss Orimura."

The medical personnel lowered a wheeled gurney beside Nick, lifted him onto it, raised it to it's full height and began to rush out with him. Cecilia kept with them every step of the way.

"All of you okay?" Chifuyu asked Ichika and the others.

"Yeah, I think we're alright, Chifuyu. Hard fight though." Ichika said.

"As long as you're not hurt." Chifuyu said before walking away.

Ichika turned to the girls. "Let's get out of here. Make sure Nick's gonna be okay and then take a rest."

"Sounds like a good idea." Laura said.

"Yeah, this has been kind of a long morning." Added Houki.

They all then started to make their way out as well, except one of them. One of the girls of the group had spotted something. She hung back, allowing the others to get ahead before darting to the side and grabbing what she'd seen. It was Ichika's crown from the play. The crown which would win the possessor the right to be roommates with Ichika. She held it close to her chest and had a wide, almost evil smile of victory on her face.

"I got it. I got it! He's mine! All mine!"

OOO

Nick's eyes fluttered open at an unusually slow pace. He knew he was awake, but he had the most phenomenal feeling of sluggishness he'd ever known. His eyelids almost felt like they weighed a ton. After what seemed like hours, he opened his eyes just enough to make out a dim figure with a blonde outline around it. His vision then cleared enough to see that it was Cecilia. She was sitting beside him with one of the academy text books in her hands.

"Now that's a nice face to wake up to." He said groggily.

Cecilia's attention immediately diverted to him. She put her book down and turned her body so that it was pointing to him.

"Nick, you're finally awake." She said with a tone of relief.

"Where am I? What happened?"

"You're in the infirmary. You passed out after that last move. You're lucky that Houki was able to catch you or it would have been far worse."

"Guess I owe Houki one." Nick said as he started to push himself up in bed.

"Here, let me help you."

Cecilia gently pulled on his shoulders, helping him to sit up straight. She then adjusted the pillows underneath him so they supported his back. Nick looked at her as she did this and thought it was the first time in a long while that anyone had really concerned themselves with trying to make him feel better.

"Thanks. How long have you been here, anyway?" He asked.

"Since they brought you in. You've been asleep for about six hours. It's just past five PM. Luckily for you, the doctor said you didn't actually injure yourself at all, you were just dangerously dehydrated and exhausted from the fight. They gave you saline intravenously and said you could leave as soon as you awakened."

"Guess it's all worked out then."

"Yes, except for one thing." Cecilia said.

She then stood to be able to reach over to him and punched him hard on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Nick groaned and rubbed the spot.

"Don't you dare ever frighten me like that again! Do you have any idea how scared I was, thinking you may have died? You're lucky I'm not a violent person or you would be in a world of pain right now!" She yelled at him.

Nick was surprised by this reaction, to say the least. To say that he was galactically astounded would have been closer to it. His feelings for her were genuine, beyond his physical attraction for her, even though he'd never thought about it much. He'd thought whatever feelings she may have developed for him so far would be simple, teenage, inconsequential feelings. But, he could see now that Cecilia did, in fact, truly care about what happened to him. This misplaced venting of anger and frustration proved that her feelings for him were deep and real.

"Alright, Cecilia. I hear you. I'll try harder to not die in the future." He said straightforwardly.

"You'd better if you know what's good for you." She said with a final trace of her previous nervousness. "Now then, as I said, since you're awake, you're free to leave at any time. I'm afraid I have a report for class that I've been terribly putting off and need to get started on, so I won't be able to wait for you and walk you back. Ichika brought some clothes for you a little while ago, they're in a tub under the bed, and so is your Speed Demon. Miss Yamada checked it over and said it's in full working order. Now that's all cleared up, I'll take my leave of you."

She stood up and turned to leave, but Nick took hold of one of her hands, stopping her from leaving his side momentarily.

"Cecilia, uh... thank you. It's kinda been a while since I knew there was someone worrying about me. It's kinda refreshing." He said with a small smile.

Cecilia didn't entirely know what to make of that sentence. She assumed it had something to do with the past he tried at all costs to avoid talking about. She remembered him mentioning parents several times and knew he had an uncle he was close to. Did this mean Nick's relatives were somehow ambivalent and uncaring as to his well-being, or was it something else? She then thought it was just like him to say it the way he had. It was half an answer to a previous question which led to an entirely new one.

"Of course I worry about you. You are among friends here. I'll see you later, Nicky Darling." She said before taking her hand back and leaving the infirmary.

"'Nicky Darling.'" He thought with a smile. "I could get used to that."

Nick then put his feet onto the floor and cautiously stood up. His legs felt like they were nothing but long, inflamed pain receptors, but they were working. He took the plastic tub from under the bed and began to dress in an outfit of his street clothes.

OOO

Three hours later, in her office, Chifuyu was reviewing all the data the school's security sensors had collected on the Phantom Task pilots. It was providing her with interesting understanding into the fighting styles of the enemy, but also distressing her a small amount.

It was the image of the pilot of Silent Zephyrs that was doing it to her. The woman had her face. It was a number of years younger, a little more all around symmetrical, but it was still a nearly exact duplication of her own likeness.

It made Chifuyu think of her and Ichika's parents. The both of them had abandoned herself and Ichika. Chifuyu had never known why. She'd never had time to find out. Getting herself declared an adult and figuring out the best way to provide for herself and Ichika had taken up so much of her mental time and energy for so long, she'd barely thought about her parents. Now though, she was starting to wonder if they'd possibly had, and subsequently abandoned another, third child.

A ringing from her computer brought Chifuyu out of her deliberation. Looking at it, she saw that it was Hiyanoto Katsuratagi trying to video-call her. Chifuyu sighed with irritation and denied the call.

The sound of knocking then came from her office door.

"Yeah?"

For the second time in as many days, Miss Maya Yamada opened the door and stepped into Chifuyu's office with a tablet in her hands.

"Miss Orimura, the maintenance department completed their analysis of Nick Williams' IS, like you asked for. I think you'll want to see the results." Maya Yamada said.

"Alright."

Maya crossed the room and gave Chifuyu the small, handheld computer. Chifuyu skimmed through it, taking in and understanding all of it without really reading it. That is, until her eyes passed over a sentence which she immediately had to go back and reread with her full attention.

"The Speed Demon's emergency shut down disengaged?" Chifuyu asked.

"Yes ma'am. According to the maintenance department, all safety protocols which would have rendered the IS inoperable were somehow disabled at eleven-thirteen and twenty-seven seconds." Maya Yamada said.

"But, that shouldn't be possible. The IS' pilot protection protocols are in its base programming. It's designed that way so that the pilot won't get hurt. Without those directives being active, the IS shouldn't even be able to function."

"I know. The maintenance department said the same thing. They're just as baffled."

"Just what kind of Infinite Stratos was that kid given?" Chifuyu asked more to herself than Maya.

OOO

Ichika and Nick were in their dorm room, playing a video game together. It was a simple first-person shooter game, with laser guns instead of bullet guns. It was one of Nick's games. He and Ichika were having a halting, on and off conversation as they played, centered mostly around the gameplay.

"Hey." Ichika said without taking his eyes from their shared screen.

"Yeah?"

"Is it odd we unwind from a day of hard fighting with a fighting video game?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Oh!" Nick exclaimed as he head-shot an alien in the game. "Think it's kinda a guy thing. Wouldn't be much different if we'd popped in one of my Schwarzenegger movies. We just like- Oh! Ah! Action!" Nick half-shouted as he decimated a nest of aliens in the game.

"Guess you're right. We definitely couldn't do this with the girls here." Ichika said.

"No kidding!" Nick laughed. "I can just see Cecilia calling this 'totally barbaric,' with very proper, English, intonations."

"Houki would call it 'ridiculously gory.'" Ichika said.

"Laura would say it was an 'inefficient use of time." Nick said with a bad German accent.

"Charlotte would probably understand."

"Rin might join in."

"Or they'd just hit us." The two guys said together.

They then spent a minute laughing uproariously at their joke.

"Ya know, if I haven't said it before, I'm real glad to have you here, man." Ichika said.

"I agree. It'd be hard to be here with _no _other guys at all to talk to. Ha! I'd be you last year." Nick said.

Ichika chuckled at that. Their game and talk continued for a while longer until someone knocked on their door. The two guys looked at each other, confused.

"You expecting anyone?" Nick asked.

"Not me. You?"

Nick shook his head negatively. Ichika then stood up and answered the door. Tatenashi stood on the other side.

"Hi, boys!" She beamed.

She pushed her way past Ichika and moved to the middle of the room.

"Ughll!" Nick grunted when he saw her. "Sarashiki, is there a point to this, or do you just enjoy making as big a nuisance out of yourself as possible?"

"I'll let that one slide for now. Tonight's moving day for you, Williams." She said.

"What?" Ichika asked.

"That's right." She held out a piece of paper. "This is a reassignment of living space form, authorized by a majority of the student council and ratified by two teachers, transferring one Nicholas Williams out of this room and into another."

"And the fact that I never asked for a different room or that neither me nor Ichika have complained to anyone about this? Does that mean nothing in the dreamworld you seem to live in?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I mean, come on, Tatenashi. Nick and I are having a great time living together. He's the first roommate I've ever had I haven't felt awkward around. We were just having a ball before you came in." Ichika said.

"I'm sorry Ichika, I really do feel sorry for _you_ in that regard, but the paperwork is approved, signed, sealed, and now delivered. It's official and nothing but another form going through the same channels can change it. Nick Williams, you're hereby ordered to report to your new room, listed on this paper, tonight, asap. You can either pack your personal things now or someone can send them later. Your choice. You may thank me for this later. I promise, you should find it a very interesting experience." Tatenashi said.

She turned and began to walk out, but stopped just beside Ichika.

"See you later, Ichika. I'll be moving in shortly." She said before stroking his buttocks once and striding out.

Ichika shrieked and jumped at her touch.

"Wait, you're what?" He yelled at her, but she was already gone.

"It's official, I hate her." Nick said.

"I'm maybe starting to feel that myself."

OOO

An hour later, Nick was walking through the halls to his new room with a suitcase of his stuff. He was still dramatically fuming on the inside at Tatenashi. As dimwitted as Ichika could be, Nick had come over the last couple months to enjoy hanging out with him. Their room had been the one sanctuary from everything IS and girl related for both of them, and that was gone now.

What's more, Nick had no idea which of the thousands of girls in the school he'd now be living with. She could be one of the many who didn't speak English, or one of them who were constantly trying to snuggle up to Ichika and himself, or maybe one who was secretly a psychopathic killer just waiting for a victim.

But then, Nick had another thought. Tatenashi had said he'd find it an interesting experience. Maybe she'd reassigned him to be with someone he would like to live with, just in a different way from Ichika. Maybe she wasn't so bad and was trying to do him a favor for all her terrible, previous behavior. Maybe, he thought, she had even assigned him to be in Cecilia's room. Nick decided that if that turned out to be true, he would openly apologize to Tatenashi and be a lot nicer to her from then on.

Coming to the door of his new room, Nick readied himself for whatever was about to happen and knocked. Tatenashi's paper orders hadn't come with a new key card. The sound of excited giggling came from the other side, and then the door flung open.

"ICHIKA!" Rin yelled as she threw herself at Nick, her eyes closed.

There was no time for Nick to respond in any way. Her eyes still closed, Rin collided with his body, wrapped her arms around his neck, and they both fell back onto the floor. Nick's eyes went wide as she locked her lips on his. He was stunned motionless by the development and just laid there as she kissed him. Finally, after more than fifteen seconds, Rin lifted her head and broke the kiss.

"Oh, Ichik- AAH!" She hollered as she opened her eyes and saw who it was beneath her.

She climbed off his torso and crawled backwards away from him, half into her doorway.

"Nick?! ...N-Nick?! What, what the heck are you doing here?!" Rin screamed at him.

Nick propped himself up onto his elbows and looked at her. "Uh... ah... Ta... Tatenashi reassigned me."

"What?!"

"I... I'm supposed to live here now." He said regularly, regaining his composure.

"What?! No, that's... it can't be. She said... and we all... and I got the... and it was supposed to be..." Rin was muttering, trying to get it all straight in her head. "It was supposed to be... wha, hey! Hey, you kissed me!"

"Uh, actually Rin, _you_ kissed _me_."

Rin jumped to her feet and glowered at him.

"YOU KISSED ME!" She bellowed.

Despite her extremely petite stature of four-foot, nine-inches tall and only ninety-one pounds, Rin suddenly seemed to become the most imposing, most formidable figure he'd ever seen. She had a look that made his blood run cold. Nick scooted back away from her an inch.

"Uh, Rin, buddy, pal, you're starting to get that look in your eye like just before someone usually hits Ichika." He said with a tense smile.

"NIIIIIIIIICK!" She roared and activated her ShenLong IS.

Nick laughed nervously. "Ah ha ha. Ha. Speed Demon."

His own suit enveloped him and Nick ran away as quickly as he could. Rin flew after him.

"Get back here!" She cried.

Nick and Rin spent most of the rest of the night playing the most deadly game of tag on Earth's record. In-between dodging Rin's Dragon Cannon blasts and avoiding swings of her ax-swords, Nick decided he really did hate Tatenashi, and that she was right. Living with Rin was definitely going to be interesting.

OOO

**A/N: I know it's been a long time since I updated this story. Kinda got distracted with another fanfic I'm writing and many, non fanfiction ideas, but I'm gonna try to keep making semi regular updates to this one from now on. A huge 'thank you' to everyone who's followed and favorited this story and I'd love to hear what everyone thinks in the reviews or private messages.**


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